


On Miracles and the Stars

by The_Reading_Dragon_Rider



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Big Brother Shiro (Voltron), Family, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Little Sister Marinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 44,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22399687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Reading_Dragon_Rider/pseuds/The_Reading_Dragon_Rider
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Ladybug and Guardian of the Miraculous Box, loves her brother.  But she never expected that saving him from being studied on by the Garrison would bring her on such a wild adventure.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 88
Kudos: 112





	1. Prologue

Marinette loved her brother. They may not have been fully related, with them only sharing a father, but she loved him fiercely regardless. Shiro was always so optimistic ever since she could remember and was probably where she got her own optimistic attitude from. He never let his muscle disease bring him down or stop him from trying to achieve his dream.

She always had fond memories of visiting their dad and Shiro as a child and going out to the rooftops with him to look at the stars. It was Shiro who taught her all the constellations in the sky. And just as he taught her how to look at the sky in wonder, she taught him how to look around him for the wonderous things on earth. And when Marinette was chosen as Ladybug at thirteen, it was Shiro who helped keep her positive, even if he didn't know it. He would always send her texts about new things that the space field would release and, seeing Shiro's enthusiasm, would lift her spirits and remind her why she was continuing her fight against Hawkmoth.

And when Marinette came to visit Shiro and dad, carrying a box and a heavy heart, it was Shiro who had simply brought her to the roof and let her cry it out without asking any questions. He had just sat by her side as she cried for her lost Master. Master Fu may not have died but he held no more memory of her and he could no longer give her advice when she needed it. But with Shiro's help, she picked up the pieces and continued on. She went back to Paris, to her mama and papa, to her never-ending busy schedule, back to fighting as Ladybug. She fought hard and before she turned eighteen, she found Hawkmoth, Gabriel Agreste, and brought him down while taking his Miraculous. She lost her black cat that day, as Chat Noir was actually Adrien Agreste; he just couldn't handle the fact that for the last five years, he had been fighting his own father. And so, after the battle was won, Adrien took off his Miraculous and told her that he didn't want to know her identity anymore. He needed to separate himself from Chat Noir. He couldn't stand the fact that he lost his father, mother, and Nathalie because of them. He told her that he didn't blame them but he just couldn't deal anymore.

And with that, Marinette was the lone Miraculous wielder and Guardian of the Miraculous Box. Marinette decided something then; Shiro was working for the Galaxy Garrison and she was going to join him. She had outstanding grades despite her absences and, with Shiro's help, she obtained a position as an intern for one of the professors. Years passed and she was with him as a fellow professor when he went to the school with the flight simulator where they met Keith. She was there when Keith got in trouble and promised to never give up on Keith. And she supported Shiro when he wanted to go on the Kerberos mission, even when his boyfriend, Adam, and the Garrison tried to stop him. And then he was among the stars and Marinette and Keith were happy for him. But then came the news.

The Kerberos crew were gone and they dared to try and blame it on Shiro. But soon weeks passed and Keith was kicked out of the Garrison after multiple counts of assaulting other cadets who dared to even breathe Shiro's name. Marinette stayed with the Garrison but went to see Keith everyday. She continued to help support the last of her boys anyway she could. She refused to give up on him and it helped ease the pain of losing Shiro.

However, they both both began to sense something out in the desert. Marinette could tell it was powerful. She was the Guardian and a miraculous wielder after all. (She was still surprised that she had kept the Miraculous and the Kwami secret for so long.) But she could not understand how Keith was also sensing it. And so, Marinette quit the Garrison and joined Keith in studying the energy and the cave full of lion carvings. It was also during this time that she changed her casual wear. Before she always wore flats with a red pair of pants and a black tank top. But now with them working out in the desert and searching more, she began to wear black combat boots with red cargo shorts and kept her black tank top. She also kept a black backpack on her with the miraculous box and the Kwami's food on her at all times. And thus starts her story with the future Paladins of Voltron.


	2. Chapter One

The night sky was bright with stars. Marinette was outside waiting for Keith to finish getting everything ready. They had just witnessed an unknown ship crash land and they were going to go investigate it. Keith was getting some explosives they made collected and she was getting their hover-bikes ready. Tikki flew out of her back pack. "Are you sure you want to do this Marinette? There will be some major laws you're breaking by doing this," Tikki said quietly.

"The Garrison won't give anyone answers Tikki. You and all the other Kwami know this. Shiro would have never crashed that ship but all the Garrison did was try to cover it up. I need to know what's going on," Marinette spoke back just as quietly. Tikki didn't say anything else, just nodded sadly and flew back into the backpack. Just moments after the quick and quiet exchange, Keith came out of the shack they had been calling home. With only a glance, they both pulled on the masks that covered up half their face and hopped on the bikes and took off towards the Garrison.

They arrived at the crash site and, once again in silent communication born from spending months alone together, they simultaneously took off to different sides of the site. She waited by where they would enter, hiding their bikes nearby for a quick get away. She waited a few breathless moments before Keith joined her. He broke the silence for the first time that night, asking "Are you sure that you're ready for this?" while glancing over at her with his dark blue-gray eyes.

"I'm sure Keith. We need to know what's going on." Marinette quietly spoke back, bluebell eyes meeting his. With that, Keith nodded before setting off the explosives. They ducked in with their masks up and bolted into the building, heading straight to the middle of the site. Opening the door, Marinette and Keith quickly took stock of the men in the room before moving. They both moved it tandem, punching and throwing the men around until they were the only two left standing.

After making sure that there were no soldier or scientists left to sneak up on them, they moved to the table in the center of the room. They had noticed that a man lay strapped down on it when they entered but played no further attention until the room was clear. They pulled down their masks and moved his face towards them. It was then that Marinette felt a burst of shock run through her as she took in the face staring back at her. "Shiro," she whispered as stared for a moment. Keith, she noticed, took out his blade to cut through his bindings and Marinette moved fast to help him. Together, they hauled Shiro upright between them. But then the door opened behind them then though and Marinette heard someone enter. She looked over and recognized him as one of the cadets from when she worked at the Garrison almost five months ago. His name was Lance, if Marinette remembered correctly.

He began yelling "Nope. No, no, no. No you don't. I'm saving Shiro." Lance then pushed her out of the way and she glared up at him before huffing and looked around to try and find anything of use.

"Do I know you?" Keith questioned while keeping an eye on Marinette.  
Lance retorted "Uh, the names Lance. We were in the same class at the Garrison?"

Marinette turned around and, before either boy could say anymore, simply said "Lance was a cargo pilot and when you got kicked out, he was pushed up to fighter pilot. Now we need to get going."

Lance jerked in surprise and looked at Marinette, asking "How did you know that? And who are you anyways? I don't recognize you from anywhere." She simply shook her head in response as she began ushering them outside. It was when they got to the bikes and they saw two other cadets there with no vehicle in site, that Marinette realized just how under prepared the other group was.

Shocked, Marinette asked "Did you plan this rescue mission out at all?"

"What are you talking about? We just hacked the cameras and saw Shiro. We then decided to bust him out. Can we hitch a ride though?" the small one in green asked.

With a glance at Keith, she sighed before saying "Alright, Lance and big guy, you're with Keith. Small one and Shiro will be with me. Let's get a move on."

With Marinette taking charge and the Garrison's vehicles lights shining bright, she and Keith revved their engines before doing a one-eighty turn while speeding away. Marinette could hear the small cadet behind her yelling about being the one that had to hold Shiro. It was after Lance glanced behind them and saw the Garrison soldiers catching up that he began yelling "Can't these things go any faster?"

It was Keith that answered "We could toss off some non-essential weight."

"Like complainers who didn't do hardly any work at all in this rescue mission." grumbled Marinette.

Lance, not hearing her, looked around and once he registered that there was nothing to toss off, said "Ok, so that was an insult. I get it."

"Let's go left Keith! To where we did our big stunts. You should know the one!" Marinette yelled and, out of the corner of her eye, saw Keith nod. With that and him yelling instructions to the big guy (and the big guy yelling commentary about what was happening behind them), they quickly approached their favorite stunt spots. It seemed that Lance, small guy (girl? Who knows.), and big guy didn't hold the same enthusiasm.

"Guys. Is... Is that a cliff up ahead?" stuttered the big guy. ("Really need to learn his name," Marinette thought "I hate just calling him big guy in my head.")

Everyone except Keith and Marinette began yelling protests while they simply leaned forward, smirking with only one word leaving their lips in unison, "Yep." The air was filled with screams as the two hover bikes dived off the cliff.

Past the whipping wind, Marinette could hear Lance screaming "Are you two trying to kill us all?"

"Just shut up and trust us," Keith yelled back. And with that, they neared the ground and both bikes pulled up from their dive neatly and without a single person harmed. Soon after that, Keith and Marinette brought back everyone to their shack.

Marinette and Keith were the ones to drag Shiro into the house. And it was there that introductions finally happened. The big guy's name was Hunk and the small one's name was Pidge. With the night's excitement finally behind them, Marinette waited for Shiro to wake up and ended disappearing to the roof to allow all the Kwami to fly out and relax. "Marinette! You almost got caught! Please be more careful next time!" Tikki squeaked, looking at her with worried blue eyes. All the other Kwami gathered around her and agreed with Tikki.

"I know you felt the need to know what was going on but if you're caught, things would not turn out well for us. We need you to be careful as our guardian." spoke Wyazz gently.

Marinette pursed her lips but nodded. "I'm sorry. I should have made sure to be more careful. But if I hadn't taken the risk, I doubt I would have ever found out that Shiro was back."

Plagg just smirked and said "I'm happy for you kid but I enjoyed the level of chaos you left in your wake. Seeing those vehicles flip over and the panic on those kids faces!" Plagg cackled. "It was priceless!"

Marinette chuckled and allowed the Kwamis free reign for a while longer. A little before sunrise, she began ushering them back the Miraculous Box and into the Kwami realm.

She climbed down the shack and, as her feet hit the ground, Marinette heard the door open behind her. She turned around, expecting it to be Keith or one of the others. But the greeting she had on the tip of her tongue stuck in her mouth as she saw that it was Shiro staring back at her. There was a few beats of silence before the siblings rushed each other, pulling one another into a hug. Marinette could feel a few tears leaving her eyes but she couldn't find it in herself to care. During the last few years before Shiro went on the mission, she had lost her mama and papa while her and Shiro both lost their dad. It had only been the two of them until Keith entered their lives.

And then Shiro was lost and then it was just two again. So Shiro being back was a miracle that Marinette would not be taking for granted. As they separated, they smiled at each other, watery eyed. Marinette took this time to fully take him in: Shiro's hair was still black but now had a white part at the front of this head and there was a scar running across the bridge of his nose. It almost looked like someone had took a knife across it. His black eyes stared back at her, seemingly also taking her in and noticing the differences in her as well. 

Then Shiro moved his gaze beyond her, looking at the sunrise. She simply took his hand, the metal one she had noticed last night, and squeezed while gently dragging him off a little further away from where the others were. They exchanged no words yet but felt no need to. Marinette and Shiro's relationship was always one where they simply understood each other, no words needed. And there they stood, brother and sister as they watched the sunrise together for the first time in six months.


	3. Chapter Two

It was an hour after day break that Keith left the shack to join them. Shiro was staring at his metal arm, seemingly lost in thought. "It's good to have you back," Keith said, placing his hand on Shiro's shoulder. Shiro chuckled quietly, both Marinette and Shiro turning to look at Keith. 

"It's good to be back," he replied.

Marinette decided to speak up then and ask, "What happened to you out there? Where were you?"

Shiro's face turned troubled as he spoke, "I wish I could tell you. My head is still really scrambled. I was on an alien ship. Some how, I escaped. It's all a blur though. But how did you guys know to come save me when I crashed?" Shiro's eyebrows furrowed as he looked between Marinette and Keith in confusion.

The two shared their own meaningful look before turning back to Shiro with Marinette saying, "You should come take a look at this." The three turned around heading into the shack. Once inside, Marinette settled again by her brothers side as Keith ripped the sheet off the board that held their research. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk stood behind them, watching and ready to listen.

Marinette was looking at the board but could see the shock on Shiro's face as he took it all in. His voice also carried a shocked tone as he asked the two, "What have you been working on?"

"We couldn't explain it really. But after I got booted from the Garrison and Marinette quit, we were lost and found ourselves drawn out to this place." Keith attempted to explain.

"The best I could explain it as is that there was some kind of... energy was telling us to search." Marinette tried to help explain better as she took in everyone's confused expressions. She could feel the Kwamis pushing lightly on her back in support as her and Keith tried explaining.

Shiro looked at Marinette while asking, "Searching for what?"

"We didn't really know at the time until we finally stumbled across this area." Keith started again. "It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves, covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion. But they all shared clues leading to some event. Some arrival happening last night."

Marinette took over, saying "Then you showed up Shiro." She looked up at his watched as he took that in before turning to the three cadets.

"I should thank you all for getting me out." Shiro directed at everyone but looked at Lance and approached him while continuing, "Lance, right?"

Marinette noticed that Shiro purposefully put his metal hand forward and was looking carefully at Lance's face. Lance looked at his hand for a moment, hesitating, before grasping it firmly. Shiro then turned to Hunk and Pidge still holding out his hand. Pidge shook his hand, saying "The nervous guy is Hunk, I'm Pidge. So did anyone else from your crew make it out?"

"I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces." Shiro answered.

Hunk decided to interrupt then. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt but let's get back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like where are they at this very moment?"

Attention was directed back to Shiro as he said, "I can't really put it together. I remember the word Voltron. It's some kind of weapon their looking for but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do."

Hunk brightened and began rummaging through Pidge's back pack while telling everyone, "Well, last night I was going through Pidge's stuff and found this photo. Look it's his girlfriend." Pidge squaked in indignation while snatching the photo from Hunk's hand. However, Marinette's eyebrows furrowed in thought as she recognized the male in the picture. It wasn't Pidge there, that was Matt Holt. Marinette had hung out with him many times while with the Garrison and met his father too. She had never met Katie or Mrs. Holt but she had seen pictures sometimes. So why did Pidge have a picture of Matt and Katie together?

Marinette shook her head, temporarily pushing the line of thought to the back of her head, deciding that she couldn't focus on that now. But even as she listened to Hunk admit to also reading Pidge's diary, Marinette was eyeing Pidge. She finally turn her attention off of Pidge as Hunk began explaining what a Fraunhofer line was and that he thought he could build a machine to track down the new element.

After the explanation, Lance cheered, saying "Hunk, you big gassy genius!"

Hunk smiled back, replying "It's fascinating really. The wave length looks like this." He pulled out a piece of paper and Marinette reared back for a moment in shock.

"Give me that please," Marinette requested, holding out her hand. It was after it was handed to her that she opened it up and compared it to the picture of the rock outcropping her and Keith found. It was the almost exactly the same.

Later that day found the six of them out at the rock outcropping. Lance stared out at it before saying, "Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky."

Hunk ignored him, telling everyone "I'm getting a reading." He pushed past Pidge, focusing on his invention. Soon the signal became stronger and Hunk took of with Pidge right behind him. The four left behind looked at each other before shrugging and following them. Hunk continued leading them further into the canyon and Marinette recognized the way. They were being lead to one of the caves that her and Keith discovered.

Sure enough, soon after they were brought straight to the cave. They entered and Marinette looked straight at the walls where she knew the cravings to be; while she didn't design much anymore, she still loved drawing and seeing such beautiful ancient carvings filled her with joy. From her position between Shiro and Hunk, she could hear as Hunk quietly admiring the carvings as well. Shiro looked around, shocked, and asked "What are these?"

Marinette let Keith answer. "These are the Lion carvings we were telling you about. They're everywhere around here." She noticed as Lance wandered to the side of the cave and raised his hand to brush against one of the carvings. However, the moment he touched it, the cave lit up in a blue light and Marinette felt a burst of power fill the air. She stumbled back a few steps and could hear Keith yelling.

"They've never done that before!" The blue light surrounded their feet and the ground crumbled. Everyone began screaming as they slid down the underground water fall. Marinette, despite screaming too, took a moment to revel in the adrenalin and in the feeling of danger. She had grown to enjoy the feeling as Ladybug but couldn't risk having Ladybug being seen in the middle of nowhere and in plain site of the Garrison. She needed to keep the Miraculous protected and knew the risks of getting caught. These thoughts flew through her mind until, finally, they all fell through a hole, hitting the ground hard. As Marinette fell on top of her brother, she couldn't help but feel grateful that she didn't land on her back. She didn't really want to feel the Miraculous box digging into her or Shiro's spine.

She got up slowly, feeling achy from their hard landing. But as she looked up, she felt herself inhale sharply in awe at the sight before her. Covered in a force field, there lay a beautiful blue mechanical lion. As she stared at it, Pidge asked "Is this it? Is this the Voltron?"

"It must be." Shiro mumbled.

"This is what was creating that energy we felt Keith." Marinette said. With that, they all began moving forward to the force field. As they walked up, she stared at the lion's face. She could feel it's stare and some how knew it was looking at Lance. She called it her Guardian instincts but she could sense a bond between the two. It was faint but there.

Lance confirmed her suspicions as he asked "Does anyone else get the feeling that this is staring at them?" When the others dissented, he continued "Yeah, the eyes are totally following me."

As they reached the force field, Keith began examining it. "I wonder how we get through this," he mumbled.

Lance leaned towards it and joked "Maybe you just have to knock." As he did just that everyone jumped back in shock as the lion's eyes flashed and the field fell. But with that came what could be best described as a vision. Marinette could see six lions: yellow, red, black, white, green, and blue. They all flew up together to form a robot. The black lion was the head, the white was the chest, the red and green were the arms while the blue and yellow were the feet. Then Voltron held up a flaming sword and striked at something before fading out of sight.

When Marinette could see again, she stared up at the blue lion in awe. She barely heard as Lance asked if everyone else saw the same thing. With that, Hunk exclaimed, "Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, huge awesome robot!"

"And this thing is only a part of it!" Pidge exclaimed, excited. "I wonder where the rest of them are!"

"This is what their looking for." Shiro spoke.

"Incredible." Keith simply breathed. After that, the blue lion crouched down and opened it's mouth while lowering a ramp, granting them access. Her and Lance looked inside and Lance smirked before walking inside. Marinette quickly followed, wanting to see the inside. Lance found a chair and sat down in it, relaxing before being jerked forward. Marinette looked at all the displays that lit up in amazement before feeling a nudge in her head. She looked around as the others enter before realizing that it was the Lion. It was greeting her! She could feel the Kwami patting her back, reassuring her that they could feel it too.

Meanwhile, Lance, as more displays popped up, exclaimed "Wow! Nice!"

Hunk decided then to speak up with "Okay guys, I just feel the need to point out, just so that we are all aware. We are all in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now."

Before Marinette could respond, she saw Lance jerk up before saying "Whoa, did you guys just hear that?"

Keith, confused, asked "Hear what?"

Lance replied "I think the lion is talking to me!" He began looking at the displays and mumbled before pressing some buttons. As the Lion activated and roared, Lance continued interacting with his lion, saying "Okay, let's try this."

Pushing the levers forwards, the Lion leapt out of the cave and into the sky. Before they could hit the ground, what seemed to be thrusters activated and they flew up. Everyone grabbed on to something and Marinette was no exception. She grabbed onto Shiro's shoulder and the back of the chair, gripping hard while bracing her feet on the floor.

"You! Are! The worst! Pilot! Ever!" Keith screamed as the lion flipped throughout the sky. The lion landed on the ground, leaping across the desert.

Lance grinned, and despite herself, Marinette grinned too. So when Lance yelled, asking if it was great, she found herself nodding along. Hunk seemed to disagree though as he yelled, "Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"I'm not making it do anything! It's like it's on autopilot!" Lance, still grinning, said. With that being said, the Lion jumped into the air again and into the atmosphere.

"Where are you going?" Keith screamed, still holding onto the seat and ceiling for dear life.

"He literally just said it was on autopilot! Pay attention Keith!" Marinette yelled.

Lance grinned at her before saying "She's saying that there is an alien ship approaching earth. I think we are supposed to stop it."

"What did it say exactly?" Pidge questioned.

Lance answered "Well, it's not like it's saying words. More like it's feeding ideas into my brain. Kind of."

"Well, if this thing is the weapon they are coming for, why don't we just like, I don't know, give it to them?" Hunk questioned nervously. "Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry lion, nothing personal."

Everyone glared at him as Shiro rebutted that idea. "You don't understand. These monster spread like a plague throughout the galaxy. Destroying everything in their path. There is no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead." As everyone took that in, their glared increased at Hunk, who sweat dropped.

"Oh... Never mind then." Hunk said. They entered the orbit and saw as a ship appeared before their eyes. "Holy crow. Is that really an alien ship?"

Marinette heard her brother breathe "They found me."

Then the ship began firing at them, and Pidge yelled "We got to get it out of here."

"Hang on!" responded Lance while forcing the Lion to dodge the shots. Then the Lion launched forward as Lance yelled, "I think I know what to do."

Pidge yelled back, "Be careful man, this isn't the simulator!"

"Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator." Lance grinned.

"Wait a minute! What was that about wrecking the simulator?!" Marinette's slight grin dropped. However, no one answered her and the lion fired at the ship before approaching and ripping into it with it's metal claws.

Lance flew the lion away as everyone congratulated him. "Ok, I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet." They took off further into space.

"Oh no!" Hunk cried as Pidge yelled "They're gaining on us."

"It's weird. Their not trying to shoot us, they're just chasing." Lance observed.

"Ok, seriously now we think that having aliens follow us is good? I'm not on board with this new direction guys." Hunk cried out, upset.

"Where are we?" Keith asked.

"Edge of the solar system. There's Kerberos." Shiro said in awe.

"It takes months for any of our ship to get out here. We got here in about 5 seconds." breathed Marinette as she stared at the planet. Then whipped her head to the front of the ship as a portal or worm hole opened in front of them.

"This may seem crazy but I think that the Lion wants us to go through there." Lance said in shock.

"Where does it go?" Pidge asked quietly.

"I don't know. Shiro? You're the senior officer here, what should we do?" Lance hesitated, looking back at him.

"Whatever is happening here, the lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it. But we're a team now. We should decide together." Shiro stated, sweeping his gaze across everyone in the cockpit. Everyone nodded and Marinette could almost feel the Kwami's giving their support as well.

And with that, Lance looked forward and speed to the worm hole, saying "Alright, I guess we're all ditching class tomorrow." And then they dived through the worm hole.


	4. Chapter Three

Marinette was pressed against the back the the cockpit as they traveled through the wormhole. She could feel one of Shiro's arms lay protectively across her, even as he was pressed against the same surface. Marinette could only hope that the Kwamis had retreated to their Kwami realm before entering the wormhole because if not, they would be crushed. Finally, the pressure stopped and they, along with Keith, stumbled forward when they could properly stand again. And then Hunk began heaving off to the side. "So sorry," he heaved out before puking some more.

Pidge sighed out, "I'm just suprised it took this long."

Marinette glanced around at the stars around them before saying "None of these constellations are familiar to me. How about you Shiro?" He shook his head.

"We must be a long, long way from earth." Shiro glanced around again.

"The lion seems to want to go to this planet. I... I think it's going home." Lance informed the group. The lion shot off again heading to the surface of the planet. They all braced together again, trying to stay upright. "Guys! Personal space! Hunk, your breath is killing me."

Hunk ignored Lance, complaining "Is it just me or is anyone else having regrets about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?"

"Well it got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Lance defended.

"I don't know if you noticed but we're in an alien warship." Keith retorted.

"Oh, are you scared?" Lance taunted Keith.

"With you at the helm? Terrified." Keith snapped.

"That's enough cadets! We all chose to go through the wormhole. Bickering about it now won't help us!" Marinette intervened, frustrated. Silence reign for a few moment before Pidge spoke up.

"So what do we do?"

"First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?" Shiro took over.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, the lion's not talking to me anymore." Lance despaired before quickly speaking again. "Wait, wait, wait. Listen. I think I hear something." Everyone began listening, until Marinette realized what was happening and covered her nose before Lance farted. Everyone recoiled while Lance laughed. "But seriously, there's a castle up ahead."

Marinette dropped her hand down and stared at the brilliantly white castle with blue accents. She found her fingers twitching, wanting to grab her sketchbook from her bag and draw the amazing sight that appeared before her. As the Lion drew closer, the castle began to light up, seemingly powering on. Soon the lion landed and before leaving it, Shiro warned them. "Keep your guard up."

Pidge's eyes furrowed as they look up at Shiro, asking "Is something wrong?"

Shiro pursed his lips before replying "My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again."

With that, they disembarked from the lion. Marinette watched as the Lion stood again the moment everyone was clear. Everyone began panicking besides her as the lion then roared, opening the doors. She tried to pay attention to what everyone was saying but became distracted by the amount of power that flowed from inside the castle. She heard as Shiro turned around, telling the others something but ignored it. Her eyes locked on the opening and she felt herself walking forward. In what seemed like only moments, Marinette entered the castle, hearing everyone's voice grow quieter as she walked further away from them. She couldn't find it in herself to care though, all that mattered was following the energy to where it lay. When Marinette was finally at the center of the hall, a light flared into existence and she could here the other's voices panicking as they realized she disappeared.

However, it was one thing that managed to momentarily distracted her from her goal. It was the sound of her brother's voice rising above the rest, crying out in a scared and panicky tone, "Marinette? Marinette! Where are you?" She snapped back to paying attention to the castle as a feminine voice called out, "Hold for identity scan."

Marinette watched as a blue light traveled up her body before disappearing. In the same moment that everyone else appeared in the entrance, the hall began to light up. Marinette suspected that the rest of the castle had lit up too. Yet, before she could even move she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. Once she saw the metal armb she knew it was Shiro but didn't say a word as he inhaled sharply, whispering into her hair "Don't do that again please. I thought you could have been hurt or kipnapped already. I couldn't bear it if I thought I had already failed to properly protect you from that." With that he stepped back enough to let go of the hug but quick pulled her into a side embrace. Turning them both to the group, they caught Pidge saying "I guess we're going that way."

With that, the team moved further into the building and wound around seemingly endless halls and stairways. After a long while of wandering, they finally reached room that seemed almost like a control center. Lance, looking around the room, asked "Where are we?"

Pidge replied, walking to some kind of interface in the center of the room, "It some kind of control room." When they all got to the center of the room, the interface lit up and two pods rose from the ground. Marinette looked in them and saw that the pods held what looked to be male and female.

She could hear Hunk behind he asking, "Are these guys... Dead?" No one answered him as one of the pods then lit up seemed to open up. The pod that opened held a beautiful woman with long white hair and an amazing blue, white dress. She also had almost baby blue eyes and pink markings under her eyes.

The woman gasped, saying "Father!" Attempting to rush forward, she fell forwards and Lance, noticing this, rushed forward to catch her. The woman held onto him, steadying herself before looking up at Lance.

Lance blushed as he took in her face before smirking and said, probably attempting for a smooth delivery, "Hello."

The woman stared up at him then looked around, asking, "Who are you? Where am I?"

Not noticing her glaring at him, Lance flirted. "I'm Lance and you're right here in my arms." Her glare faded as she seemed to take in a detail that only she could see.

"Your ears?" She said, confused.

"Yeah," Lance, now also confused, urged her on.

"They're hideous. What's wrong with them?" The woman leaned back.

Lance took a step back as he defended himself, "Nothing is wrong with them. They heard exactly what you said about them!"

The moment Lance seemed to get aggressive though, Marinette saw the woman get into a defensive stance. The woman grabbed Lance's ear, pulling. As he turned, trying to relieve the pressure on his ear, the woman then grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back while not letting go of his ear. As he hit the ground, she began demanding "Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?"

Lance, with tears in his eyes, said "A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know!"

The woman, seeming suprised, let go of Lance while demanding "How do you have the blue lion? What happened to it's paladin? What are you all doing here?" Then she seemed to run out of steam while saying, "Unless... How long has it been?"

Marinette stepped forward and in a soothing voice, spoke "We don't know what you're talking about. If you tell us who you are, mainly so I can just stop calling you the woman in my head, and maybe we can help you find out the answers."

The woman took in the group before saying "I am Princess Allura of the Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep." Allure approached the interface, laying her hands on it and displays popped up.

Pidge peered over the device before stating mildly, "So that's how that works." As Allura focused on the display, Marinette turned when the other pod opened up, revealing another Altean? He seemed to be older than Allura and immediately tried to go on the defensive, believing them to be intruders. Marinette rolled her eyes, turning away from them as the man and Lance messed around.

She looked back at the display Allura was looking at before jerking back for a moment. "That's the Guardians language." Marinette breathed, her eyes going wide.

Allura looked over at Marinette, eyes furrowed as she corrected the other saying, "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. This is the Altean language." Then as a result popped up, Allura denied in disbelief, "It can't be."

The man turned to her, immediately asking, "What is it?"

"We've been asleep for ten thousand years!" Allura's face showed horror as she realized the implications of that sink in. "Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, father is gone. Our entire civilization." Then Allura's face twisted in anger as she growled out, "Zarkon."

Shiro questioned, "Zarkon?"

"He was the king of the Galra. A vile creature. An enemy to all free people!"

Shiro admitted, "I remember now. I was his prisoner."

"He's still alive? Impossible!" Allure furrowed her brow in thought.

"I can't explain it but it's true. He is searching for a super weapon called Voltron." Shiro told everyone.

"He is searching for because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him. And that's exactly why we must find it before he does." With that, Allura continue read the information of the display. After a short while, Coran disappeared before reappearing with a plate of food. Marinette took Coran's reappearance as a chance to slip off to a corner of the room. Once she confirmed no one was paying attention, she called out to Tikki, Wyazz, and Plagg.

Did you guys know about the Alteans?" Marinette probed quietly while keeping an eye and ear on the conversation from the group.

"We did. But we never thought that they would become relavent to any of our Guardians. The Alteans visited earth centuries ago. They met our Guardians and decided to teach them their language. And after the Alteans left, the stories of their kindness was passed down from generation to generation. However, the stories began to die out until they were gone completely. Then the temple was destroyed and Hawkmoth began terrorizing Paris. And then, even as we continued teaching you about your Guardian duties, it just never seemed to come up." Wyazz explained.

"It is interesting to know, I just wish I wouldn't have been caught off guard." Marientte smiled at them. "I accidentally revealed to Allura about the Guardians when I recognized the language. Luckily, she didn't press the issue." She directed her attention back to the group when she saw Allura hug Coran and look of mourning crossed her face. Marinette exchanged glances with the Kwami and, as the little sprites dived back into the back pack, she walked over to join them again. Just as she rejoined them, Allura released Coran and looked over at the pod she had emerged from.

With only a moment of hesitation, Allura walked over to it and peered in the bottom. With a laugh, Allura held out her hands as mice hopped onto them. "I guess we aren't the last after all."

Before Marinette could say something comforting to Allura, an alarm blared throughout the castle. Everyone whipped their head towards the interface and saw another Galra ship appear on the screen. "A Galra battleship has set it's tracker to us!" Coran cried out.

"How did they find us?" Allura worried.

"I'm not sure but I bet it's Keith's fault." Lance grumbled.

"Say whatever you gotta say to make yourself feel better after getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole." Keith snapped.

"I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Lance threatened.

"Stow it cadets!" Shiro intervened, pushing the two apart. "This is no time to place blame, it's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?"

"At their speed? Uh, well, carry the two. Right, uh, I'd probably say about a couple of days." Coran solved in his head.

"Good, let them come. By the time they get here you six will have reformed Voltron. And together we will destroy Zarkon's empire." Allura rallied. But the speech was ruined as Hunk burped and he sheepishly apologized.

"Princess, there are six lions. We have one but how are we going to find the rest? Do you have a way to track them?" Marinette questioned.

Allura motioned for them to follow her in leau of an answer. Soon the group arrived at a different room. Allura stepped up to a small platform and stood there with eyes closed, seeming to focus heavily on something. Coran finally answered Marinette's question, saying "King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts."

It was right after Coran finished his explanation that Allura snapped her eyes open. The room filled with holographic stars and planets, Marinette felt her breathe momentarily catch as she took in the beautiful sight.

It was Pidge that ended up point out a detail Marinette almost missed. "These are coordinates. It looks like the black lion it's in the same location as the blue lion."

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage." Coran praised.

"Very observant. That's because the black lion is in the castle." Allura complimented Pidge.

"To keep the black lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other five lions are present." Coran explained.

Allura took over the explanations. "As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain. The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot that is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion. The White Lion has a supportive personality. It wants a pilot who can help support the head and hold together the arms and legs. It's traits are a combination of the others and it's pilot could, in a pinch, could pilot any of the Lions. That is why you, Marinette, will pilot the White Lion. The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality. It needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion-"

"Whoa, hold up. Let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" Lance interrupted, smirking.

Allura held a deadpanned expression before continuing on, "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. It's pilot is someone who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together. The Red Lion is tempremental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion."

"What? This guy?" Lance scoffed.

Allura ignored Lance now, saying, "Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After ten thousand years, it might need some work."

"Don't worry. We'll find it soon. They don't call me "The Coranic" for nothing. It's because it sounds like mechanic. So... Oceanic, mechanic. It's not... It doesn't sound exactly like it. It sounds similar." Coran attempted to joke.

Allura made the holographic lions roar and fly together contining her speech, "Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron. The most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe."

Marinette examined Voltron as Hunk began to nervously list off worries he had. Shiro took over, distributing orders, "We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, go with Marinette to retrieve the White Lion. After getting the White one and the Red Lion is located, go get it."

Allura butted it, "In the meantime, I'll get this castle's defences ready. They'll be sorely needed."

"I'll ready two pods and get the coordinates so you can reach the Green and White Lions." Coran offered. With that everyone dispersed, each going to their mode of transportation.


	5. Chapter Four

The three groups of paladins were in the air and ready to drive through the wormholes Allura produced for them. Coran's face popped up on a side display in the pods and lion. He began tellling the groups important information, "We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work. The good news is that according to my readings, the planet's are all relatively peaceful. So if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives! Enjoy the trip!"

Before Marinette could demand more information from her spot as the pilot, they were through the wormhole. She could feel Keith gripping on to the bacmof her chair while traveling through it. When exiting, Marinette took in her planet that her lion was supposedly on. It was a planet full of flowers and trees and rivers that sparkled with light. Marinette glanced back at Keith, smirking. "Well, at least we aren't alone in a desert this time. No sand to get stuck in our boots."

Keith chuckled, teasing her, "I didn't really mind it little miss sunshine. You sure that you don't miss it. Especially when the dust you always ate when we raced." They laughed as they landed softly in a field.

"I don't know, I think I like seeing flowers and trees more. Watching them grow strong and bright is better. Though I suppose you would realized the difference little cactus." Marinette stepped out of the escape pod and examined their surroundings. "I don't have a clue where we should start. Do you see anything Keith?"

"I don't see anything but let's be on guard anyways. We don't know what is on this planet. The castle's information could be very out of date." Keith said, his good mood seemingly gone and was glaring suspiciously at their surroundings. Marinette moved to respond but paused. She could see creatures emerging from the forest and they looked like humanoid ladybugs. Marinette could feel her face go deadpan as she took them in. They were completely black except on their chest and back. Their chest was an orange exoskeleton and their back held the recognizable ladybug colors of red and black.

"Of course there's ladybugs. Even out in space, the universe refuses to let go of the irony." Marinette scoffed under her breath. But she held her head up high and walked towards the them and could hear Keith following behind her closely. She lowered her head in respect to the creatures. "Could you help lead me to the White Lion?" she respectfully requested. The ladybugs did not answer but two grabbed her by the arms and began to gently lead her into the forest. Marinette heard Keith curse behind her and stopped for a moment to look at what was going on. Keith was being tugged by both arms and pushed from behind as he tried to dig in his heels.

Marinette smiled at him. "Just let them lead us Keith. We'll be fine." He pursed his lips before sighing and letting himself be led. Marinette laughed at him before allowing the ladybugs to continue pulling her along again. They went like that for a while until they were finally at a river cave. The ladybugs that had her by the arms let go before gently pushing her towards the entrance. Marinette thanked them before turning to Keith. "I'll be right back. I promise." She then disappeared into the cave. She traveled furthered in until she reached a cavern. And in the center held the White Lion. It was beautiful and Marinette could feel the bond between her and White spring to life. She grinned and ran toward her lion. Once she reached it and ran inside. She ran inside and grinned as she sat down on her chair. Her smile grew wider as she heard the lion purr in her mind.

"Hey girl," Marinette greeted. "I want to take off in a minute but before I do, I just wanted to let you meet some people I'm protecting as their Guardian. The others don't know but I don't want there to be secrets between us if I'm going to be your pilot. There is to many of them to name all at once and most of them stay in their Kwami realm but the main ones I interact with names are Tikki, Plagg, Wyazz, Trixx, Pollen, Longg, Sass, and Mullo." Marinette felt the Lion purr reassuringly in her mind and smiled, "Alright, let's go girl! We need to pick up Keith and get out of here!" And with that, the White Lion roared as she took off, out of the dark cave and into the warm light.

Marinette whooped as she and her lion flew through the air until they landed by where she left Keith. As White allowed Keith to climb inside, Marinette closed her eyes and smiled wider as she allowed her lion to communicate with her. She opened her eyes when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Keith smirking at her. Marinette didn't say a word, just winked before flying to the wormhole. She disappeared through it and thought breifly on the pod they were abandoning before dismissing the thought. As her and Keith landed by the castle and disembarked, Marinette noted that they were the first ones back.

She grabbed Keith's hand and pulled him behind her as she darted through the castle to the bridge where she knew Coran and Allura to be. "What the hell? Slow down Marinette. We're not in a race." Keith tried to tell her, still being dragged.

"I know, I just can't wait to tease everyone and tell them their slowpokes for taking so long." Marinette said smugly and with no small amount of glee. Keith shook his head before smirking again.

The moment they reached the room, Marinette released Keith and darted inside. "Hey Coran! Hey Allura! We're back!"

"Ah, very good! We 're just wait for everyone else to get back now!" Coran informed them.

Marinette nodded but turned serious for a moment. "Any word on the Red Lion?"

"None. We're still trying to find out if there is anything wrong with the castle but we can't find anything yet. We'll let you know the moment we do." Marinette nodded and moved to one side of the room, seeming to delve into deep thought. She zoned out so hard that she didn't even notice when Shiro and Pidge arrived. The two glanced at Keith, who shrugged, before quietly standing by Allura and watched her work.

Marinette snapped out of it finally, noticing that Shiro and Pidge had already arrived while Hunk and Lance just showed up. She joined the others by the door. "You made it." Allura clasped her hands together in relief.

"Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk." Lance complained, stretching his muscles.

"Think how I felt. I am Hunk." Retorted Hunk, rubbing his head.

Marinette noticed as Pidge and Shiro exchanged looks, smiling as Pidge said, "Yeah, we had a tough time, too."

Keith and Marinette shared nothing, simply smiling (or in Keith's case, smirked). Shiro looked forward, becoming serious. "Did we find the Red Lion yet?"

"Allura just located it. There's a bit of good new and bad news. The good news is that the lion is nearby. The bad news is that it onboard that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. Oh, but good news again! We're Arus!" Coran said.

Marinette whipped her head towards Coran. "They're here already? How? I thought we had a couple of days."

"Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting- it's more of an art then a science. Hmm?" Coran admitted before turning around where they were receiving a message from the Galra.

"Princess Allura. This is Captain Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emeror Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." The message disappeared from the screen.

"All right, let's not panic." Shiro immediately tried to sooth everyone.

Hunk, however, finally started to panic. "Not panic? The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us. We only have five lions."

"Technically, only four working lions." Pidge corrected.

"That's right. Thank you Pidge." Hunk said sarcastically. "Four working lions and a castle that's, like, ten thousand years old."

Coran corrected Hunk then. "Actually, it's ten thousand six hundred years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather-"

Hunk put his finger on Coran's lips, shushing him. "Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!"

"Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Allura revealed.

Lance began to flirt with her. "Girl, you've already activated my par-"

Marinette smacked his head, "Lance, that's enough."

"The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever." Coran informed. "The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"Panic now?" Hunk asked.

"No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly." Shiro stated.

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day." Lance offered as an option.

"I second that. Yes. We tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have four. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm. To go throuth that hole, Lance, that you were talking about." Hunk said.

Lance began walking towards Allura, stating, "Then it's settled. Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy."

Marinette refuted the idea. "We can't leave Arus behind. It's a cowardly thing to do."

Pidge agreed with her, stating "The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them."

"Okay. If we run, maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left earth." Hunk tried to reason. "We form the snake, worm, thingamajig and we get out of here."

"Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option." Keith put his opinion forward.

Lance turned to him, snapping out, "Here's an option, shut you quiznak!" Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk began arguing about what they wanted to do.

"Guys, stop!" Shiro finally snapped out at everyone. "Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"

Allura looked down as she admitted, "I... I don't know."

"Perhaps your father can help." Coran said. Allura left to somewhere with Coran and the paladins waited quietly in their own thoughts until Allura entered the room again.

Her eyes conveyed a passion that had not been there before. "You six paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope."

With that impassioned speech, Shiro stepped forward. "We're with you, Princess."

"Your suits of armor." Allura gestured. Marinette walked up to her armor and examined it. It completely white with black and silver accents. However, she noticed that there was no backpack or place to hold something. She pursed her lips but simply resolved to always bring her backpack with her in the lion and strap it down somehow.

They started to get dressed into their armor. Surprisingly, even Hunk's armor fit despite it looking multiple sizes too small. They fit snugly and Marinette quietly admitted to herself that she felt like a badass. Then she saw as Allura opened another display. "The Bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each paladin." Allura spoke.

Marinette eyed her Bayard. "I swear if the universe is so stupid as to give me a weaponized yo-yo, I will scream." Marinette grasped onto her bayard then and a bright light flowed from it. She loomed away for a moment and when she looked back, there sat a yoyo. Marinette looked up at the ceiling, sighed, and then examined it further. She pulled the string out and noticed that, while thin, it appeared to be as strong as her Ladybug one. She inspected it further noting finally that there was a small series of buttons by where her fingers would lay. Marinette pressed the black one and jerked as blades popped out of the metal yoyo. She smirked, hitting the button again to retract the blades, deciding to inspect it more later.

However, before Marinette could move a muscle, she felt Lance step near her. "As, you got a cute little Bayard. It's a yo-yo!"

She paused a moment, annoyed, before smirking. With a flick of her wrist, she tangled Lance in the string and decided to test out the green button. A shock of electricity jolted through the wire, shocking Lance. With another flick of her wrist, the yoyo returned to her hand and Marinette watched as he fell. "Yeah, it's cute and so am I. But it doesn't mean that we're not dangerous."

Shiro chuckled, "I will never underestimate you with a yo-yo. If it wasn't for the fact it was years go at this point, I would say that I still have bruises from the time I suprised you when you held a yo-yo in your hand."

Allura laughed before turning to Shiro. "I'm afraid your Bayard was lost with it's paladin."

Shiro, still smiling, reassured her. "I guess I'll just have to make do."

Marinette walked to Shiro, smiling up at him. "Let's get going to the bridge and get ready to kick Sendak's ass!" Shiro simply ruffled her hair before following after Allura, who had left already. Marinette huffed and pulled on her helmet. "Don't do that stupid. I'm already going to have helmet hair. I don't need to to be worse." Shiro just laughed again, not turning around.

But the good mood soon passed once the reached the bridge. Allura already had the scan of Sendak's ship up and was examining it. The moment everyone was gathered, she began speaking. "You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship."

Keith spoke up then. "That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Seeing Lance and Hunk open their mouths, Marinette through glares at them and answered Keith. "Do you remember that energy we felt out in the desert? The one Lance made fun of us for? The best I could compare it to is something like that."

"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn it's respect." Allura instructed him. Keith nodded.

Shiro laided a hand on Keith and Marinette's shoulders before directing his attention to everyone. "All right, here is our plan of attack. The Galra empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know we have the Green and White Lion too. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up. While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, Marinette, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green and White Lions. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge and Marinette guard our exit. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon."

The group nodded and broke off. Soon, the four of them were in the Galra ship as Lance and Hunk tried to be the best distractions they could. Marinette listened as Pidge informed the two that they successfully entered the Galra ship. Then the four of them took off to the end of the hall, with Keith and Shiro ready to leave Pidge and Marinette behind. However, when Shiro stepped out into the hallway, he gasped and began panting.

Marinette darted to her brother, laying a hand on his arm. "What's wrong Shiro?"

He shook his head, repling, "I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here." Marinette felt her grip tighten on Shiro's arm and her eyes fell into a glare. So this was the place that the Galra imprisoned her brother, where they either did or made him do horrible things. She would take that into consideration when she planned on dismantling the ship. As Marinette's thoughts filled with increasingly violent ways to destroy this ship, she heard Pidge beginning to talk.

"So, that means your other crew memebers, they might be held captive here. We-- we gotta rescue them!"

"Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus." Shiro sighed.

"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge argued.

"Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." Shiro began to turn away but it was then that Pidge exploded.

"No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos mission with you."

"Commander Holt is your father?" Shiro asked, suprised. It was in that moment though, that Marinette realized why Pidge had the picture of Matt and Katie. Pidge wasn't a boy like everyone thought. She was Katie Holt! Marinette knew that Sam and Colleen Holt only had two children, Matt and Katie. So for Matt to be captured and Pidge to claim that Commander Holt was her father, that meant that the only logical answer was that Pidge was Katie!

Even as the mind-blowing knowledge, went through her head, she listened as Shiro through together a new plan. He too realized the implications of Pidge, she could tell, and knew just how bad it would be if they let Pidge wander alone to find the prisoners. So with the new plan of Shiro and Pidge splitting off to find the prisoners as Keith and Marinette went to find the Red Lion, Shiro turned to Keith with some parting advice.

"Just remember, patience yeilds focus. So-- Run!" And as they separated with a door opening a hall down, Marinette could only mull over Shiro's words. Patience yeilds focus? Well, that actually sounded like something wise. She'd make fun of him later for it. And so, as her and Keith disappeared futher into the ship, she quietly allowed herself to fall into step behind Keith. Allowed him to lead her deeper into the purple halls that, if led astray, could spell the end for her and Keith. Marinette could only hope that everyone would come out of this fine.


	6. Chapter Five

Marinette glanced around as Keith led her down another hallway. She watched as he seemed to makes turns at random, she wondered if he realized that he was doing that. So it was with surprise that she noted he stopped at a crossroads. He only had two options to choose from and she could hear as he mumbled under his breath, "Great, now which way?"

"Keith, calm down and focus. Remember what Shiro said, patience yields focus. And it is with focus that you should be able to find the Red Lion." Marinette soothed. She watched as Keith nodded and took a deep breath. That sat in silence for a few moments before Keith snapped his eyes open, and cheered a small 'gotcha' before tearing off down the hallway they had just left.

Now Keith that knew where to go, they reached the Lion in a few moments. Te two of them enter the hanger and approached the Red Lion. "Bingo. Let's get out of here. Open up." Keith demanded. But when the lion refused to even move, Keith eyes fell into their usual glare. "It's me. Keith. Your buddy. It's me! Keith, your-- I am your paladin!" Marinette felt laughter bubbling up inside her. Only Keith, one of the most stubborn people she knows, could get the one lion who would be just as stubborn.

That amusement was short lived, however, when Galra soldiers appeared behind them and began firing. Marinette threw herself into a roll, making her shield materialize to block the shots. All the while, she could here Keith yelling "I'm bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We're connected!" When the lion continued to stay stationary, he growled and brought out his Bayard. "You're not getting this lion!" As he cut down two, Marinette noticed more blasts coming for him and dove in front while holding her shield out. The impact drove her back a little bit and into Keith, who also stumbled.

"Remember what Allura said! You need to gain your lions respect. So figure something out and do it fast. There are more soldiers coming in and I don't think we really want to waste time fighting all of them." Marinette urged, glanced back at Keith.

"You're going to want to go full helmet! It's gonna get a little hard to breath." Keith responded almost instantly. Marinette barely had time to comprehend what he was going to do and react by grabbing onto the panel they were next to. In the next moment, Keith slammed down on a button that opened the air lock. Marinette felt her feet lift off the ground and saw Keith dangling in the air by the same machine.

"So you just did something stupid. Now I'm gonna to do something stupid. Don't come after me, I'm going to be letting go to get to my Lion. Toodles!" Marinette yelled out, smiling as she took in Keith's wide eyes before letting go and feeling herself get sucked out. Marinette felt herself spinning before she was suddenly engulfed by her lion. She rolled on the floor and laided there for a second. "Never let me do that again. Spinning around in space is not fun." She said in her Comm unit to Keith.

That turned out to be a mistake as she heard Shiro start demanding, "What do you mean spinning around in space? What did you do Marinette?!"

"Uh, nothing. Keith could back me up." Marinette lied.

"No I can't because I accidentally did the same thing." Keith groaned. "But I got my lion."

"Oh, did it finally decide that you were worthy?" she asked.

"Shut up." Keith replied. Shiro started laughing before cutting off.

"I would ask but I have a feeling I won't like the answer. I'm going to be hanging around until you and Pidge get out." Marinette said. There was silence until she saw the Red and Green Lions flying by and took off, joining them as they rushed back to Arus.

She heard as Hunk's voice came through the comma, "You guys made it!"

"Kitty Rose has left the stage!" Pidge joked.

"Let's get the heck out of here." Lance said, taking off after us.

"I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it." Hunk informed them.

"I'm sure that it will be good enough. We just need to be able to get to the castle and get the Black Lion. And then figure out how to form Voltron." Marinette said. "By the way, do we even know how to form Voltron? Like, we know we need to do it but how?"

"We'll just have to figure it out. And quickly." Shiro answered. Soon enough, they reached the castle and the Lions were are placed in front of the door that held the Black Lion. Shiro exited the Green Lion and walked in front of the door. She felt as the power of each Lion, something she had been able to ignore for a while now, flared and felt more than saw White's eyes glow. And she felt as a new power, one that felt strong and confident. Marinette smiled. Black would be the perfect lion for her brother. She glanced down at where she hide the miraculous box. White had a small compartment by where the pilot's chair rested.

She looked around, noticing that the door was still opening and then called out. "Tikki, Plagg, Wyazz, Mullo, Longg, and Trixx. Come out please. I have some instructions for you if things go wrong." At her words, the Kwami flew out.

"Oh Marinette. Just what have you gotten yourself into now." Tikki squeaked out.

"I'm apparently saving the universe again. Only this time, not from it being a apocalyptic wish from combining your and Plagg's Miraculous and by being Ladybug. No, now I'm a pilot of a sentient robot Lion and can transform with other robot lions to form a giant robot. Oh and Tikki?" Marionette ranted before glancing at said Kwami. "The yo-yo you gave me as my weapon for Ladybug. The one thing I can be deadly with because of it. Apparently, it's the weapon I'll be using to defeat the Galra. With a few upgrades." Marinette took a deep breath before shaking her head. "Anyways, that it's what I called you out for."

"If I may Guardian. What is your plan if you are to fail? I do not think it likely but I know that you find comfort in having back-up plans." Wyazz spoke gently.

"Yeah princess. Lay it on us. I want to eat some Camembert, I love that cheese. And since you decided to be like, well, one of my black cats with your reckless decision to randomly enter a robot Lion and trust it, I want to be able to savor my only love besides sugar cube while I can." Plagg complained in his dramatic way.

"Whatever you decide, I will support you little Fox." Trixx said fiercely. Longg and Mullo simply nodded at the others words. Marionette glanced out again, noting that the others were preparing to move.

As she began to do the same, she outlined her plans to the Kwamis. "In the event that I know I will fail and most likely die, I will pass over Guardianship to someone I trust. For now, I would pass on the responsibility to Adrien. That will cause you guys to be taken to safety. The person may change as time goes on. And if we get through this, I do want to talk about possibly revealing you to the team. For now, it's time to battle."

Just as those words left Marinette's mouth, Allura's voice came through the Comms. "Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!" With a roar from Black, all the Lions leapt into the air and left the castle. They landed in a line on the ground and saw as Galra ships began attacking the particle barrier. Then there as a huge blast from the ion cannon!

"Well, apparently the Galra can fix stuff fast! We should try a form Voltron quickly!" Marinette noted.

"The barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless." Coran informed.

"I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!" Allura ordered.

"Jeez, no pressure." Hunk deadpanned.

With another blast from the ion cannon, Shiro began to try rallying the team. "Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?"

Marinette nodded but then heard Hunk again. "I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?"

Everyone, in unison, deadpanned "Yes."

Shiro ignored the interaction, yelling out, "Let's do this!"

"Uh, how?" Lance questioned.

"Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?" Shiro asked.

As the others gave their ideas, Marinette pondered the question while calmly dodging the blasts and tearing into the fleet. "What if we try flying in formation? I can't figure it out and it's the best I could think of." Marinette offered finally with a warning from Allura filling their ears.

"Good idea Mari! Take off on my cue!" Shiro instructed."One, two, three, Voltron!" As one they took off flying into the air, everyone urging themselves to keep going and combine. "Nothing's happening!"

"Hey, wait, wait, wait! I feel something!" Lance cried.

"I do too. I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!" Hunk agreed.

It was Shiro who cut in, sounding nervous as he said, "Uh, guys, I think I know why. Look up."

"They have a tractor beam?! Not fair!" Marinette complained, trying to get her lion to move.

With one last blast from the ion cannon, the castle defenses went down. "Oh no." Shiro breathed.

"I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!" Hunk began screaming. The others joined in the panic, trying to move out of the way and saying goodbye. Marinette simply glared, refusing to believe that they could fail.

Shiro seemed to believe the same as he started to speak. "No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!"

"Yeah!" the paladins all cried out as their lions roared. Then, they began forming Voltron. Once it was finished, everyone began laughing and yelling in amazement. And as the ion cannon tried to fire at the castle one more time, they pushed it and caused the shot to miss the castle.

Shiro laughed in disbelief. "I don't know how we're doing this but let's get that cannon!" They grabbed it and began pulling. Within a couple of seconds, they had it torn off and thrown to the ground. Then within two shots and one jump through it, they brought down the entire Galra battleship. Marinette thought that they must have looked badass at the end, when they landed and stood there as the ship exploded behind them.

After separating, they all landed with Marinette holding her back pack. Allura and Coran were waiting outside for them, Allura immediately congratulating them. "Good work, Paladins!"

Lance took off his helmet, tiredly smiling and flirted. "Thanks pretty lady." As everyone else took off their helmets, Marinette noted that everyone was sweating.

Shiro came up behind her and Keith, smacking Keith on the back before pulling her into a side embrace. "We did it."

Keith smiled at Shiro replying, "Heck yeah, we did."

"How did we do it though?" Marinette asked breathlessly, returning Shiro's embrace.

"I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it." Hunk offered, smiling.

It was then that Marinette and Shiro noticed Pidge's downtrodden face. With a glance, they stepped out of their embrace and Shiro approached Pidge. "We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you." Shiro stated firmly as he laided his hand on Pidge's shoulder.

"Trust me, as the younger sibling to doofus here, it may seem impossible now but if there is one thing I know, it's that anything is possible." Marinette reassured her.

"We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions." Allura told the Paladins gravely.

"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again." Coran said cheerfully.

Marinette spoke up. "If you call what we did knowing what we're doing then all the power to you. But we don't have a clue on how we formed Voltron."

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time." Lance complained.

"And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe." Coran enthused.

Everyone looked shocked before Shiro smiled. "Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it." They all looked back at their lions, smiling.

"Hey, wait a minute! Totally random but I only just realized this. Marinette, you're Shiro's sister?" Hunk questioned.

"I mean, yeah. Why did you think me and him hugged every now and then?" Marinette questioned.

"I don't know! I never really questioned it! I was more focused on other things!" Hunk defended. Marinette and Shiro looked at each other before laughing.

"Well, things will never be boring at least," thought Marinette as she let the sounds from her new team wash over her.


	7. Chapter Six

It was the next morning after defeating the Galra Battleship and Marinette, already in her Paladin armor, was meditating in her room. The Kwamis were on the floor meditating with her. The Miraculous Box Sat in front of them as both a way to help Marinette connect herself further to the Kwami realm and so that the Kwami could dive into it if anyone entered her room. Marinette breathed deeply, relaxing in the quiet. She could rarely find a moment to do this once she joined the Garrison and didn't dare try to do so in her and Keith's shack. She always needed to venture out into the desert to do so but even then, she was wary of being caught by Keith. And as she sank deeper into a meditative state, she smiled. Yet, the moment was quickly broken when she heard the castle alarms blaring!

Marinette leapt up, snatching her helmet along with the horse miraculous. She rushed out of her room, stuffing the glasses under her suit. She listened as Allura ordered everyone to get to their lions and was beginning to grow worried the more she listened. But when she neared the control center, meeting up with the others, and heard Coran take over the intercom, she began to suspect that there was no attack. Sure enough, once the group reached the center, they found Coran speaking dramatically into the microphone with Allura standing by and looking fine despite Coran' s declarations otherwise.

Once Allura noticed that five out of the six paladins arrived, she spoke to Coran. "Coran."

"Oh, yes, Princess, I'm listening." Coran spoke, not seeing the paladins.

"It's over." Allura deadpanned.

"Oh, I know! If only Voltron had been formed. Oh. Time!" Coran finally noticed the paladins presence.

"I guess this isn't an actual attack." Shiro noted. Marinette rolled her eyes. She loved her brother but she knew it wasn't one the moment she heard Coran's voice. He didn't sound panicked or worried like he would if there was an actual attack.

Marinette directed her attention back to Allura when she began to tear into them. "And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you... Coran?"

"Seventy five degrees! Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer." Coran apologized.

Allura sighed, moving on to try and get her point across. "However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro and Marinette are in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lance?"

As if it was timed, Lance walked through the door in his pajamas and a cup while looking totally put together. "Good morning, everybody. What's going on?"

Marinette could see the fury on Allura's face grow when she saw how flippantly Lance was treating the situation. "Coran and I have been up for hours getting the castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed."

"Hey!" Hunk defended himself. "You got to sleep for ten thousand years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle. That's a lot to process in, uh... I don't know. What day is today?"

"If when we rescued Shiro was Monday night, that means that yesterday was Tuesday. I think you can figure out the rest." Marinette snarked.

Hunk sighed. "It's a lot to process."

"You must understand the stakes of our mission. Over the last ten thousand years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations. So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe." Allura explained while pulling up a hologram of the Universe with orange lighting up where Zarkon had conquered. She then pushed the hologram until it came to rest on where earth resided. "Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable."

"Oh no." Hunk breathed out.

"Exactly. Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon." Allura informed.

"The Princess is right. Let's get to our lions and start training." Shiro agreed. Marinette nodded along, ready to turn around and leave to her lion.

However, Pidge interrupted. "Wait. But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."

"Negative, Number Six! I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow." Coran informed.

"That's right. Now, get to your lions." Allura demanded. With that, they finally all took off. Marinette went to her elevator, the doors closing behind her as it began to descend. At the bottom, she leapt off her platform and grasped onto handles attached to a wire that, with her momentum, started flying her further down to the loading bay. As she neared the end of that tunnel, Marinette noticed a hole she could fling herself into. As she did just that, she ended up landing straight into a cart? Sure enough, when she grasped onto the controls, she was brought Into her lion. With a smirk, Marinette took off, delighting in feeling the temporary weightlessness of flinging her and her lion in the air before diving.

She landed by the others on the bridge, waiting for Hunk to get out in his lion. After a long period of time, Lance finally asked, "Should someone go in after him?"

Before anyone could respond, Hunk flew out while apologizing. "Hi guys. Sorry everybody. Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?"

Marinette shook her head, exasperated, while Shiro's voice echoed over their Comms. "All right guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we are totally in sync."

As Allura's face appeared in Marinette's lion, Allura gave them advice. "Feel the bond with your lions and your fellow pilots until five become one unit and you form Voltron."

As if that was their signal to go, each lion leapt into the air. As they flew back and forth, trying to form Voltron, they started yelling with enthusiasm but it died down with each failure. Eventually, after Hunk tried to keep their cheer going, he noted that no one else joined in and asked, "Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?"

"Yes, Hunk. You are." Marinette stated in a monotone voice.

Shiro sighed. "Clearly, this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit."

Keith immediately interjected. "Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up."

"What do you mean?" Shiro questioned.

"I mean, let's try literally building Voltron." Keith stated.

"Like stacking on top of each other? It may work." Marinette furrowed her eyes.

"Like a cheerleader pyramid?" Lance scoffed.

"You got a better idea?" Keith defended.

"It's worth a try." Shiro said, sounding interested. However, when they tried to stand on top of each other in formation, there were a few issues that arose. Lance was in his spot as the leg but Pidge was on the ground next to him even though she was an arm. Keith and Marinette were standing on top of the two with Shiro standing on them. But then Hunk, despite being the leg, stood himself on top of Shiro. It took a few moments of silence before Marinette finally broke it.

"Hunk, just what exactly are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Hunk said, confused.

Shiro sighed. "You're supposed to be the leg over there."

"What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?" Hunk questioned.

"You yelled I'm a leg!" Lance said, disbelieving.

"Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things." Hunk defended himself.

"Shiro is the head, Hunk." Marinette rubbed her eyes, sighing.

"All the time?" Hunk asked.

"Let's just try it my way for now." Shiro stated.

"Okay, but next time I call head." Hunk relented. Within a few moments, they were all in their positions. As Marinette and her lion held still in their position on top of Pidge and Keith's lions, she felt as Shiro carefully landed on top of her and White. They pulled up a video chat between the lions and Marinette took the moment to glance at everyone. Hunk and Lance looked bored while Pidge was still looking excited at the new technology. Keith had his usually scowl and Marinette could feel her mouth twitch upwards. She glanced at Shiro's video and saw him looking at everyone too before grabbing their attention.

"Feel the bonds with your lions. Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus. Focus." Shiro guided everyone. They all closed their eyes, trying to focus but after a few moments, Shiro impatiently broke the silence. "Is everyone bonding and focusing?"

"Why was this so much easier before?" Lance sighed, looking a little upset.

Shiro sighed. "Let's take a break."

"Sorry to interrupt but I may be able to help." Allura's face popped up on their monitors. "Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle." At everyone's agreement with her assessment, Allura's face lit up. "Perfect. Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!"

At her words, Marinette watched as the Castle's forcefield went up. A few moments later, she and the other paladins began to panic as the Castle began to fire at them. Marinette screeched as she and White hopped around. She could hear the others screaming and Lance bounce off the forcefield but ignored them, focusing on dodging the blasts. She knew that Voltron wouldnct be formed with everyone panicking like this. Last time, she remembered, they were panicking but they were united against something and felt courage against it. So she tuned out the rest as they screamed and yelled. It was after a time that the sheild went down and Marinette settled for a moment. She breathed deeply before chuckling to herself. She noticed that everyone else flew in but she decided to stay out for a bit.

"Just you and me right now, huh White?" Marinette breathed before grasping the controls again. "Let's have a little fun girl." She felt Kaalki and Tikki fly out from where they were hiding and smiled. "Have some fun hiding while I dodged those blasts?" Marinette asked, both teasingly and concerned.

"We were fine Marinette! It was just a little bumpy." Tikki squeaked. Kaalki nodded at her words.

"That's good." Marinette smiled wider for a moment before she began to grow serious again. "I want to talk to all the Kwami about something but also want to talk to you two first to see what you think." At the two Kwami's questioning looks, she continued. "I want to make the others Gaurdians as well. It would make protecting you all easier and allow all of you to wander the Castle freely. I always wanted to free you to wander as you please but..." She hesitated before continuing. "I don't want to make the wrong mistake in trusting the wrong people. They may be my fellow paladins but are they worthy to be Gaurdians? They can barely work together right now and that discord with the Miraculous could be bad. I just wanted to talk it over with you guys and then talk it over with the rest because I know that bringing it up with no thought would just make me feel awkward." Marinette took a deep breath and glanced at the Kwami.

Tikki and Kaalki had a thoughtful expressions on their faces. Tikki was the first to speak. "I think it would be a good idea. They may not be able to work together great right now, the exceptions being you and Shiro, but they could end up being great. I would wait until tomorrow to make a descition and after you talk to the others, but still. I think it would be a good idea."

Kaalki spoke next. "I find myself agreeing with Tikki. Remember when you and Chat couldn't work smoothly in the beginning? I suppose this could be like that."

Marinette gave a relieved sigh. "Well, tonight I'll talk to the others and then make my decision by at least the end of tomorrow." With that, she flew White into the castle and hunted down the others. She didn't find them right away but finally heard everyone in one of the lounge rooms. As she entered, she saw Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance on the couch in various positions. Allura, Coran, and Shiro were standing behind them.

It was also when she entered the room that she heard Coran ask, "Where is number Five?"

"Marinette," She emphasized her name, "is right here. I was out bonding with White more after you all flew in."

"Ah, good! I was just telling the other paladins about the training deck. You all should try working out there." Coran explained. Marinette shrugged before looking at Shiro. Since he was, technically, their leader. At his nod, they all stood up and trudged after Coran as he lead them to the training room.


	8. Chapter Seven

Coran ushered them into the training room and told them to form a circle in the middle, backs to each other while he went to the control center. As they did so, Marinette looked at the spacious room and sighed in wist, thinking of how nice this would have been for her and Adrien to practice as Chat and Ladybug. She quickly shook that thought of as she heard Coran's voice come through an intercom.

"Two, two, one, two. Okay, listen up guys. The Paladin code demands that you put your team members safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack. It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team." Coran walked them through the exercise as said drones flew out. At the sight of them, Marinette shifted into a defensive stance and pulled up her shield, eyeing the drones.

"Wait, wait, wait. What is going on?v Hunk asked before accidentally summoning his shield. "Whoa, did you guys get one of these?"

They ignored him and Shiro assumed command. "Get ready." As though Shiro speaking was the signal, the drones began to fire and, within the first couple of minutes, both Hunk and Pidge disappeared as they got hit and fell into a hole that opened beneath them. The four left behind began to slowly move back to back. Shiro and Marinette were on opposite sides, as was Keith and Lance. They blocked the shots and soon Coran began to increase the intensity. Of course, as soon as they fell into a rhythm, Keith and Lance began bickering.

"You keeping up over there Keith?" Lance taunted.

Just concentrate on keeping me safe." Keith commented, trying to ignore Lance.

"Me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentrate." Lance scoffed. However, right at that moment, the drones flew lower and as Shiro, Keith, and herself crouched down, Lance stayed standing. It proved to be his mistake as when he instinctively moved his foot out of the way of a blast, Keith got hit. Before Shiro or Marinette could intervene, Lance got hit as well. Shiro and Marinette stayed crouched and behind their shields. They both had instincts guiding them; Marinette from her time spent as a hero protecting her partner and Shiro from his time in the gladiator pits, although he couldn't really remember his time there at the moment.

They moved in sync, blocking shots from above and below. It was only when drones shot two blasts for Marinette to block, one above and one below that those instincts also guided her next move. She twisted her arm backwards, grabbing a hold of Shiro and forcefully rolled them to the side, dodging all blasts aimed at them in that moment. However, she forgot to take in mind that, while she was used to sudden acrobatics, Shiro wasn't expecting the move. He missed a blast and Marinette went down while hearing Shiro groan before screaming with her as they fell.

After that exercise, Coran set up a new one. He sent in Lance first while bring the rest to the control room. He set Keith up with a Mic and everyone, excluding Lance, watched as he set up a maze and placed Lance as the center point. Then he began to speak both to the paladins in the booth and Lance. "To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your team mate can see the walls, but you cannot. So listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock."

Marinette watched as Lance slipped his helmet on before seeming to realize something. "Wait, who's guiding me through?"

Keith ignored the question, deciding to just start leading him. "Take two steps forward."

"Oh, no. Not Keith. Why does he get to be the man on the mic?" Lance began complaining.

"Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn." Coran said.

"Like I said, take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps that direction." Keith continued, as if he never heard Lance or Coran. Marinette sighed as Lance turned right immediately and got a shock. Deciding to tune them out until it was her turn, she sat down cross legged on the floor and started meditating. About an hour later, she was standing where Keith and Hunk had both stood, looking at where Shiro was located before noting the route he would need to take.

"Alright, who do I get to work with?" Shiro's voice came through her Comm and Marinette smirked.

"It's me. You ready for me to guide you through big brother?" She teased him, saying "I'll try not to have you run into many walls."

Shiro's chuckle was deep and he teased her in turn. "Well, I won't hold it against you. I mean is your sense of direction really your strong suit? We'll be seeing soon I guess."

Marinette snorted. "Alright, alright. Take three steps forward and then turn right." And so Shiro was guided through the maze. He only hit the wall once and that was when Marinette accidentally told him to turn right instead of left. Then it was Lance's turn to guide Keith through and Pidge to guide Hunk. Finally, it was Marinette's turn to be guided and she knew it would be Shiro on the mic. "So, ready to be my guide Shiro?"

"Oh, definitely. Just wondering if I should have some pay back for the shock you gave me." Shiro stated. And again, they were off, Marinette following Shiro's instructions. She did feel odd stopping at random to turn and walk in another direction but she ignored it. She would rather not get shocked, thank you very much. But she managed to get shocked twice. Once because she turned a step too soon, running into a wall and the other because she clipped a corner she was rounding.

After they all completed that exercise, Coran guided them out to their lions and had them begin flying. "You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his or her lion."

"No problem. Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real." Lance boasted.

"Perfect! Then you won't have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your lions into a nose-dive!" Coran instructed. They all followed his instruction, Marinette idly wondering what the spin was going to be with this exercise. "This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but we're in a bit of a rush so here we go. Activating training helmets!"

Marinette felt herself jerk momentarily as her vision went black. She could hear everyone gasp and assumed they couldn't see either. This thought was confirmed when Lance cried out, "Coran, what's happening? I can't see!"

"You must learn to see through your lions eyes. The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the lion feels!" Coran explained.

Marinette took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax as she closed her eyes, trying to focus on her bond with White. As she and White fell, she could hear the others through her ears. Hunk crying out, "Mine feels scared!"

Lance and Keith taunting each other before speeding up and crashing into the ground. Pidge panicking at hearing them crash and pulling away, crashing herself. Only Marinette and Shiro remained now and they had yet to say a word. Finally though, as they focused, they felt a tugging sensation for only a moment before they were able to see through White and Black's eyes. Even though their eyes were closed with their bodies, they could see the ground they were rushing towards and the other lion diving with them. But it didn't matter as right before they would have crashed, White and Black pulled up and began weaving around all the obstacles in their way before reaching open skies once more. "I think we're getting this" Shiro breathed, sounding relaxed.

"Excellent, Shiro and Marinette!" Soon Coran turned off the training helmets and all the paladins returned to the castle for Coran to give the next exercise. He placed them all in a circle in the training room, this time sitting down, and gave them each headpieces before disappearing into the control center again. They were instructed from there to place the headpieces on and close their eyes. "The most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron."

As Coran spoke, she felt the headpieces activate. She saw Keith thinking about their shack, Lance was his family. Hunk was thinking about food, Shiro the Garrison, and Pidge's was fuzzy but clearly the picture she carried. Marinette knew that the thought being displayed for her was Shiro and Keith with Shiro holding the Miraculous box. It was an image that she imagined multiple times and always filled her with longing. Marinette always wanted to tell them about her duties but it was always to dangerous and never could.

Marinette's attention faded from her thoughts as Coran's voice came again. "Come on, everyone, clear everything. Now, focus on forming your lion. Bring your lions together and form Voltron. Keep your minds open, work together. Good!" She felt as everyone but Pidge formed their lions and pushed them to the center and felt Keith get irritated. "Keep focusing! Only one to go!" Coran encouraged them.

"Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Keith snapped, his lion cutting out.

"I wasn't! Hunk was rooting around in my head!" Pidge exclaimed.

"I thought we were open. You can look in my head hole." Hunk said.

"Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head holes! Clear your minds!" Coran yelled.

Everyone settled down again focus once more on their lions and forming Voltron. "Good! Almost there. Now, form Voltron." Coran guided and encouraged gently. "Yes!"

Voltron was almost complete but then Pidge got distracted by a thought and her lion disappeared. Lance snapped his eyes open, yelling "Pidge!"

Pidge snapped, standing up and taking off her helmet before smashing it on the ground. "I'm done with this! Look, I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head!"

Shiro, looking tired, pleaded with Pidge. "Oh, come on, Pidge, we're starting to get the hang of this."

Pidge sighed, looking tired in that moment as well. "I'm just... I'm just tired, okay?"

Shiro sighed, "Okay, Let's take a break."

Coran was quick to rejoin them with water pouches he handed everyone. "You have been working hard. Maybe it's time to relax a little." Coran relented. Marinette smirked as she watched Shiro try to read the back of the pouch. Then she stood up, having already finished her pouch, and began stretching. Then she summoned her Bayard and went through the drills she used as Ladybug with her yoyo.

'Although I guess my new one is a more weaponized version than any others I used." Marinette thought humorously to herself.

Her thoughts and drills were interrupted, however, when Allura barged into the room. "What are you doing lying around? You're supposed to be training!" Allura snapped with her hands on her hips and glare on her face.

Coran tried to defend them, saying "Just resting a bit. You know, you can't push to hard."

That didn't dis sway Allura though. "What do you mean, can't push to hard? Get up you lazy lumps! It's time you face the Gladiator!"

Everyone stood up, getting into their loose circle and summoned their Bayards. Soon they heard Coran's voice come through, this time explaining the Gladiator. "In order to defeat the Gladiator, six paladins must fight as one." Marinette stood there carefully listening and watching, ready for the Gladiator to appear. After a moment she heard a hiss from the ceiling behind her and whirled around, spinning her yoyo and ready to use it however needed. She watched as it landed and loomed up at Hunk. Then Hunk, as he noticed the robot looking at him, panicked and shot his gun randomly. However, his shots missed the Gladiator entirely, almost hitting Keith if he hadn't summoned his shield in time. The robot took advantage of Hunk's panic, sweeping his feet from underneath him and shocking him as he landed on the floor. Pidge attacked the Gladiator but was overwhelmed with the attacks and was thrown onto Hunk.

Lance came up next, trying to get a shot in but was forced into the defensive as the Gladiator got close enough that he could no longer fire. Keith and Shiro hurried over to provide support as Marinette continued to hang back, waiting for a good moment to attack. But they weren't fast enough and Lance's gun was knocked out of his hands and whapped on the head. The Gladiator, sensing Keith behind it, blocked Keith's attacks before whipping around and hooking his staff on Lance. He threw Lance into Keith and they went flying onto the floor. Shiro activated his arm and Marinette moved in behind the Gladiator, ready to attack or restrain the robot. But it seemed not meant to be as she grew distracted while seeing Shiro freeze.

Marinette jerked as she realized what was happening. Shiro was in a flash back. But as she was distracted by Shiro, she missed the Gladiator leaping at him. Luckily, Keith had recovered and blocked the attack from hitting Shiro. "Shiro, are you okay?" Keith grunted out. Before Shiro could snap out of it, the Gladiator swept Keith off his feet and threw him into Shiro. It was at the sight of them being thrown around when one was not okay that finally set Marinette off. She adjusted her feet and spun her yoyo behind her, eyes narrowed. Marinette and the Gladiator faced each other, motionless, before the Gladiator moved. It rushed at her, it's staff behind it as it moved before it swung at her. Marinette let her instincts take over, jumping back slowly but surely leading it to the wall and away from her friends.

Logically, Marinette knew that now that her friends were knocked out, the Gladiator wouldn't attack them. However, years of taking the fight out of the way of others getting hurt, she couldn't help but try and move away. As she felt the back of her foot hit the wall, she smirked. When the Gladiator swung to hit her is when she moved again, rolling to the side and wrapping her yoyo around it's legs and pulling it of balance. When it hit the ground, she pulled it back and eyed her buttons. Seeing the Gladiator get back up, she shrugged and pressed the red button. Then she watched as a light encompassed the Bayard and, when the light faded a rapier was replaced it. With the smirk returning, she stabbed the Gladiator through the head. It crumpled to the floor. Breathing deeply, she dematerialized her Bayard.

She turned when she heard someone enter the room. Allura looked at her appraisingly before turning to the others. "That combat simulator was at a level fit for an Altean child! You're not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon! The fact only Marinette was able to defeat it speaks volumes of how far you five need to grow to catch up." Allura ripped into them.

They all stood up with a sigh, and trudged after Coran as they went to the dining area. They finally relaxed and soon the table was filled with food. "Ahoy, young Paladins! I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!"

Shiro smiled at Coran. "Smells great, Coran. Thanks."

However, as they reached for their utensils, Coran whipped out a remote nd reassess button. As he did so, cuffs appeared around their wrists and locked them together. Her and Shiro, Marinette noted, had their free hands bound to the arm of the chair. "Hold the phone!" Lance started complaining.

"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day." Coran smiled, a devious glint in his eyes.

Hunk gave Coran a glare and, in the most threatening tone Marinette heard him speak in, told Coran "Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing."

Coran ignored him and continued his explanation. "This one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of Yalmors!"

Marinette sighed, her appetite gone. 'Of course it's another exercise. Not a single break for us today.' She thought and turned to Pidge. "You can just do whatever. I'm not that hungry." She watched as Hunk got punched in the face and Pidge get tugged, therefore tugging her. Then Hunk accidentally bit Lance and Lance pull Keith's hand into his food goo. All the while as everyone complained, Marinette observed Allura. She could see her become irritated and felt her own irritation rise in turn. They were the ones being put through the wringer and pushed to their breaking point. Allura was just the one orchestrating this while they had to deal with it.

Then Allura spoke up and she could see everyone get close to snapping. "Do earthlings ever stop complaining?"

Shiro spoke up, despite the fact that he too was irritated, and tried to defuse the situation. "Can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today."

"Yeah! We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like... like..." Keith stood up, angry.

"Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" Lance offered, angry as well.

"Yes! Thank you, Lance!" Keith said. Marinette raised an eyebrow at that, surprised that, for once, the two were getting along.

"You do not yell at the Princess!" Coran yelled.

"Oh, the Princess of what? We're the only ones out here and she is no princess of ours!" Pidge snapped at them. That turned out to be Allura's snapping point, as she used her spoon to fling food goo at Pidge.

Eyes narrowed, Marionette yelled at Pidge. "Go loose Pidge!" And with that, she flung a plate at Allura and it almost landed before Coran stepped in. Coran hit the plate with a napkin, sending it off course and used a serving spoon to cover everyone in the goo.

Hunk narrowed his eyes at that point. "Oh, it's on now." At that declaration, a food war broke out and everyone got covered it the goo. When they finally finished, the Paladins were all standing and Allura collapsed in a chair. The paladins all looked at each other and laughed, finding joy in seeing everyone dripping the green goo.

However, their laughter was cut short as Allura began yelling. "Enough! Do you see what you're doing?" Allura then looked up, smiling. "You're finally working together as one!"

As everyone realized Allura was correct, Marinette grinned and giggled. "I wanna go fly my lion now! I feel so hyped!"

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked.

"Let's go form Voltron!" Shiro exclaimed.

Everyone cheered but fell over as Hunk slipped on some goo. Shiro and Marinette's chair fell on top of them and she laughed again as Coran scrambled to find the remote to uncuff them. Soon, they cleaned themselves up before traveling in their respective tunnels to their lions. "Everyone ready to do this?" Shiro asked.

"Roger that!"

"It's on!"

"Yes sir!"

"I was born ready!"

"Let's pound it!" Pidge, Lance, Keith, Hunk, and Marinette all confirmed.

"Then let's go!" Shiro commanded. Everyone cheered and took off to the outside. As the flew together, they began to form Voltron. Marinette could feel the elation rushing through her veins as she work with the other's in controlling the robot. They all practiced a bit before dissembling and entered the castle again. They changed into their normal clothes and sat together.

"Man, that was cool! I'm so charged up, I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight." Lance exclaimed.

"Not me. When my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out." Keith smiled at Lance.

Hunk began speaking, voice trembling a bit. "I just want you to know that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're brothers, man." Hunk then pulled Lance and Keith into a hug. "You know? Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way. I love you guys." Shiro pulled Marinette into a side hug and placed a hand on Pidge's shoulder.

Marinette laughed. "You got some G-force messing with your head a bit there, Hunk?" Shiro let go of her and stood up began going to his room.

Hunk laughed too as everyone stood up to do the same. "Yeah, maybe a little. It's been a tough few days." Marinette climbed over the back of the couch and walked to the door. It was as she was leaving that she heard Shiro asked Pidge something but the door shut before she could really hear what it was. Marinette smiled again and walked to her room. When she finally entered the room and the door was closed (and locked) behind her is when the Kwami all flew out. Marinette took a deep breath and faced them all, ready to talk about expanding the Guardianship to more than just her. ' The bond Hunk spoke of wasn't just felt by him. I could feel it too. I'm almost certain that they would make good Guardians.' Marinette thought as she began to talk to all the Kwami about her idea.


	9. Chapter Eight

It was a few days after the paladins had figured out how to form Voltron and Marinette was mildly irritated. She would spend her mornings training with the team. Her afternoons she would either hang out with someone on the team or helping learn how to repair the Castle. Her nights were what really stressed her though; after she brought up the idea of telling the paladins and the Alteans about the Miraculous, while also making them Guardians.

The Kwami were divided and debating; they all wanted to trust them but what would happen if one of them got captured and told the Galra about them. They finally seemed to be leaning towards telling the others though and Marinette was relieved. It was with a light heart that she went out the next morning to train.

Shiro noticed her happier mood. As they walked towards the bridge, he smiled down at her. "What has you all chipper this morning?"

Marinette giggled, twirling herself in a circle, answering "Can't tell you just yet. It's a secret." As she said that, she placed a finger on her lips in the 'shhh' motion and winked at him. Shiro laughed, wrapping his arm around her.

"Okay then, what ever you say squirt." He teased her. Then laughed again as Marinette playfully punched his side. Finally they got to the bridge and began training. But as they came back in, Keith and Lance were back to bickering again.

"Seriously, how far do you think my Lion kicked that broken alien ship?" Lance asked everyone, excited. "Must have been like a mile."

"Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match." Keith scoffed.

"Hey, I did something cool and you can't hamdle it. I get it." Lance brushed him off.

"I think what Keith is mainly upset about is the fact that the kick made us lose balance and fall over." Marinette pipped up, looking between the two.

Lance rolled his eyes as him and Keith walked to join the rest by Marinette. "That falling part was Hunk's fault." Lance blamed.

"Hey!" Hunk said, offended.

"Alright, save your energy for fighting Zarkon." Shiro shouted back at them.

As, she and Shiro sat down, relaxing for a moment, Coran entered through a side door. "Hello guys! How was the Voltron workout?"

Shiro sat up, looking over at him. "We're getting there. Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus."

"Just about. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats your worried about, I made you guys an authentic paladin lunch." Coran said. Marinette pushed herself out of her chair and began walking to the door.

"I'm not really hungry so I'll pass. Thank you though, Coran. I'll see you guys later." Marinette told them as she left. She heard the others exclaim at something as she wandered down the hall. She went to her room and tapped on the Miraculous box. As she did so, all the Kwami's flew out; they began chattering at her and fluttering about.

"Is it night already Marinette?" Barkk asked, her head tilted to the side.

"No, I just wanted some alone time with you guys. How are you all? Do you want any of your food?" Marinette worried over them.

"We're fine Marinette! We don't feel a need to eat unlessss we are ussssed to transssform. Anytime we eat other than that issss for enjoyment, not need." Sass told her.

Marinette sighed. "I know but if you really want to eat, then I want you too. I could always find a way to get you more food and I would prefer doing so."

"Don't worry about us Guardian. We will be fine. But we do have news for you." Wyazz spoke.

Marinette perked up, looking at him. "Oh, what is it?"

"We talked long with each other when you left and decided that we do not mind you telling the other paladins and the Alteans of us. And we agreed that having them be Guardians as well would be beneficial." Wyazz explained, smiling at Marinette.

Marinette felt a grin grow on her face and pulled all the Kwami into a hug. "Oh thank you guys so much! I'll tell them tomorrow!" As she said that, she heard her comm crackle to life from her helmet.

"Team, come in! We need back up!" Shiro yelled. Marinette jerk up and threw on her helmet. Glancing at the Kwamis, she grabbed Plagg's ring and Wyazz's bracelet before hiding the Miraculous box and taking off towards her lion. As she flew out, she saw the Green and Black lions follow her. But what drove her to panic was seeing Shiro and Pidge on the ground while a ship was headeding to crash towards them. The lions and Marinette landed and surrounded them, protecting them from the blast.

Marinette watched as they stared in shock before entering their lions and began worrying over them. "Are you two okay? I flew out and then I saw them fly out behind me and then I saw that thing almost crash right where you were at and I panicked before shielding you with them. Anyway are you okay?"

"We're fine but I don't know what that is. We need to be careful. It's obviously Galra tech." Shiro soothed her while simultaneously getting her to focus.

They watched as the ship split in half, revealing a robot and it's charging station or maybe connection point. Then the robot powered on with a yellow and purple eye with a hand that produced a orb of light. They all leapt apart as the beast threw the orb at them, breaking the ground where they stood. It then returned to the monster and it threw it once more at Pidge. Dodging it, Pidge flew higher and when the monster threw it at her again, she attempted to fired at the orb to destroy it. However, it flew through the blast unharmed and yet, before it could hit Pidge, Marinette knocked her out of the way, crying out as she was blasted out of the sky and hit the ground hard. She listened as the beast began running towards her but paused as Shiro directed the Black Lion to bite it and he soon hit the ground besides her. Pidge tried the same approach but the monster, guessing that move, threw her to the ground by them as well.

It raised his arm, ready to strike them with the orb but was once again distracted by blasts. It was the other paladins, arriving as back up. "Marinette listened over them Comms as Keith temporarily took charge. "Lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!" Lance complied with the order, firing along side him while Hunk took advantage of it's distraction to bash into it, making it fall to the ground. With the monster suitability distracted, Marinette, Shiro, and Pidge got up as Keith worried over them. "You guys all okay down there?"

"Still alive for now." Shiro said, kind of sarcastically. They flew up to join the other's and they settled in their formation as they took a moment to observe the beast.

"Are the Galra behind this?" Hunk questioned.

"I think so, but I've never seen anything like it." Shiro confirmed.

"What's the plan Shiro? Forming Voltron or blasting the shot out of it?" Marinette asked him.

"If we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it." Shiro commanded. As the lions roared, he shouted out what Marinette was beginning to liken to her transformation phrase with the Kwami's. "Form Voltron!"

They then formed the Legendary robot and landed on the ground, facing the beast. Shiro gave a quick reminder, "Remember, we are one unit, fighting with one goal." As the Orb appeared again, Lance and Hunk braced the feet on the ground with Marinette shift their body forward a little to compensate for the shifting. Then Hunk pushed them forwards and up, Shiro using the wings from his lion (some of his lion cover Marinette's on the back) to propel them up and forwards. The beast flung the Orb and Marinette turned their body out of it's path. Shiro fed more energy into the wings propelling them forward faster as Keith tried to punch it. With that failed attempt, Pidge did a follow up punch, hitting the Beast in the face and it stumbled backwards, falling down. Leaping up into the air, they tried to use both arms to crush it but the beast blocked it with one arm.

Before they could move, the monster raised it's other arm and, turning a bit as they heard a noise behind them, saw the orb rushing at them. They prepared to move but was throw off balance when the monster pulled itself out of the way. They hit the ground when the orb connected and they glanced over their shoulder, seeing the orb lift up and come back down to slam into them again. Everyone cried out in alarm while Shiro, Lance, and Hunk used their jets to both flip them over and push them out of the way. The moment they were clear, they pushed themselves upright while Keith began to panic a little. "I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!"

Hunk agreed, shouting "Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?" The orb flew at them again and Marinette jerked their body out of the way and helped face them in the direction the orb went. But that turned out to be a mistake as the monster then attacked them from behind, sending them flying.

They all groaned but then looked up to see the Arusian village. "Oh no. The village. We have to protect those people." Shiro said. The monster charged them againand they took the hit to protect the village but got pushed over the ledge leading to the location. However, they once again activated their thrusters and hovered over the village for a second before taking off into the sky, away from the village. "That was close," Shiro commented. They flew past the monster and began leading it away. When they got far enough away, they began to talk strategy.

Pidge was the first to pipe up. "We got him away from the Arusians but we can't take him down."

"Yeah. Everytime we focus on the beast, we get hit with the orb but when we try to focus on the orb because of that, we then get hit by the beast!" Marinette exclaimed, frustrated.

"I got it! I'm going power kick that orb-thing!" Lance exclaimed.

"No! The last time you did a kick, we fell!" Keith tried to refute.

"Stop living in the past!" Lance brushed Keith off. Powering forward to the monster, Lance forced them into a kick. But as the orb flew towards them, it flew past the foot and hit them in the face. Flying backwards, they hit the ground as the monster charged them.

"Pidge, fire lasers now!" Shiro commanded.

"Got it!" Pidge responded. But instead of a blast, a shield formed from their wings instead. Marinette listened as Pudge began panicking, trying to figure out what happened. "Oops!"

Shiro began to panic a little too. "No! Lasers! Lasers!"

They got hit by the beast and then hit again with the orb. Hitting the ground on their side, they all groaned. "It's like Marinette said! Everytime we focus on the orb, we get blindsided by the monster. And everytime we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!" Hunk noted.

"Then what do we do?" Lance panicked.

"Orb!" Marinette intterupted, seeing the orb fly at them again. They hit the ground again, having just stood up.

"Shiro, we gotta move." Keith said as the monster returned the orb to his hand again. "Shiro, are you there?"

"Shiro! Come on, answer us!" Marinette yelled.

"That sound... I recognize this monster from my time in Zarkon's prison. I know how to beat him!" Shiro finally answered. They all leapt out of the way as the beast tried to punch them. As they landed, Shiro began to explain. "Listen, there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weakest point. That's when we strike."

"Ok, so what do we do in the meantime?" Hunk questioned.

"Defense!" Shiro was quick to answer. "Pidge, we need that shield!" As she pulled the shield in front of them, the orb hit it, pushing them back despite their feet being braced on the ground. "That's one, two more to go!" Shiro began counting off. The orb flung around, hitting the shield again.

"We can't take much more!" Hunk grunted as he and Lance tried to keep them upright.

"Last one! Everyone brace for impact!" Shiro yelled. Marinette tried to ready herself but, when the orb hit, still felt her head slam into the back of her seat. She groaned with the others and shook her head. "Now!" Shiro commanded them to attack. Keith blasted it and it went down with dust surrounding it body.

The others begam to relax a little but Marinette still felt on edge. This felt too easy. In all her time as Ladybug, it was never this easy to beat the bad guys, they would always pose a challenge one way or another. She was proven right when the dust began to clear and they saw the beast get up, orb in hand. 

"It didn't work!" Pidge exclaimed.

"So now what?" Lance asked.

They got hit by the orb again and fell sprawling on the ground. "When I attacked him before, I had a sword!" Shiro thought out loud.

"Orb! Orb!" Hunk alerted them. The orb hit them again, hitting them further into the ground.

"We can't take another shot like that!" Pidge informed them.

Marinette tried to help form a plan before she heard Keith call out, "Wait a second, guys! I think my lion's telling me what to do!"

"Whatever it is, hurry up and do it. He's about to fire his third shot." Lance warned him. The orb flew towards them and connected, sending them flying again. As they stood up and the beast leapt to smash them, Keith screamed out and a sword appeared from Keith and Pidge's lion. They then sliced the beast in half and it continued to fly over them, hitting the ground before exploding.

They swung the sword a couple times and then began cheering at their defeat of the monster. "How did you do that?" Hunk questioned, excited.

Keith ignored him, chuckling. "Whoa. Thanks Red."

They disassembled and flew back to the village. They all met with the Arusians then, laughing in relief and joy. Allura hugged them while Coran congratulated them. Allura then turned to the Arusians to give an announcement. "I apologize for the danger we put you in with this attack. It came here for us and yet you were the one put in danger's way. We will be leaving by the 'morrow and will, hopefully, lead the danger away from you. However, tonight we will host a celebration and you are all welcome."

"Lion goddess. We are more than pleased with your words and will come tonight. We will give thanks tonight for the mighty Voltron for it's protection." the Arusian King responded. With that, they all left back to the castle. However, their day wasn't over just yet. The prisoners they rescued wished to go home now that they were healed and so they were guided to the ship bay.

The paladins all helped them on the ship and then stood at the bottom. Marinette noticed, however, that Pidge and then Shiro disappeared before the prisoners could say goodbye. She ignored that for now, thoughb and focused on them. "Good luck out there guys." She told them, smiling.

"Thank you all for everything. We never dreamed we'd see our families again. But you gave up hope. You gave the universe hope." One of the aliens told them before shutting the doors and the ship took off.

Marinette decided to hunt down Shiro and Pidge as they all dispersed. It took a little while but she soon found them sitting together out on the bridge. She walked towards them and watched as they glanced towards her. Smiling, she moved to Pidge's other side and sat down wbile saying, "So this is where you two snuck off too."

After she was seated, Marinette glanced at their faces. She noted that Pidge's eyes were a little teary and Shiro had a familiar fond look on his face. She took a chance, deciding Shiro must have already figured it out. "So, what was wrong Katie?" She questioned Pidge. Then laughed at her and Shiro shocked expressions. "Come on, don't forget. I worked a little Mr. Holt and Matt too. I heard all about the little sister. I figured it out pretty quick. And I guessed you already figured it out." She told them. "But I won't tell the others until your ready. I know how hard telling friends things can be and I don't want you to worry."

Pidge laughed, launching herself at Marinette while thanking her over and over again. Marinette giggled, hugging Pidge back while Shiro shook his head againb the fond look returning as he was once again reminded of his little sister's smarts. Pidge let go of her finally and they just sat there for a while admiring the view as the sun began to set.

"We should get going." Shiro sighed. "Have a party to get ready for." At that, they all got up and began the walk back to the castle. Little did they know what the night had in store for them.


	10. Chapter Nine

That night, the Paladins, Allura, Coran, and the Arusians all roamed the castle, chatting and having fun. Late into the party, everyone gathered together to watch a play the Arusians put together on the battle earlier that day between Voltron and the monster. When the performance came to an end, a cheer arose from the Arusians as Allura stepped forward. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for that wonderful production." Allura had a forced smile on her face, even as she complemented their skills. "It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe. Your Highness, please accept this gift. This will allow you to contact us anytime you need help. Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance."

The Arusian King smiled before turning and holding the device aloft. "Hoorah!" he cried out and the other Arusians cried out in kind. Marinette smiled at them all before wandering towards the bridge. She liked to celebrate normally but she felt uneasy tonight. Marinette glanced around and felt Plagg's ring under her armor. It reassured her, knowing that she had a way help protect herself and the others. She stood in there, staring out the window and watched the horizon, looking for movement. She only stirred when she heard someone enter the room behind her.

Marinette turned, seeing Lance enter and sit down by the center. He didn't notice her off to the side and she let him be. He looked like, for just a few moments, he needed a little time alone. Marinette simply kept watch over him and noticed Coran enter a little while later. She nodded at him and Coran nodded back while making his way to Lance. "Mind if I join you?" Coran asked Lance.

Lance looked at him, then asked "How far away from Earth do you think we are Coran?" Marinette wandered forward at the question, quietly standing a few paces behind Lance.

Coran walked forward, still cheerful but held a worried look in his eye. "Let's take a look." He pulled up the map of the galaxy and pointed in a direction. "Earth is over here. And we're all the way over..."

Lance stared as Coran swiped over more and more, trying to find Arus. Lance spoke up again, "You ever notice how far away the planet's are from each other Coran?"

"Yes. Haven't you been paying attention?" Coran said, seemingly distracted. But Marinette noticed Coran's hands tense up ever so slightly.

"Yeah, but I mean, like, they're really, really far away." Lance answered, getting up and standing by Coran. "Like, say, Earth. It's so far, I can't even see it. The... The blue oceansb the white clouds, green grass... I... I can't see any of it."

Marinette walked forward again and placed both her hands on Coran's and Lance's shoulders. Coran simply laid his hand on hers as he began to speak again. "You miss Earth. I understand. I miss Altea."

Lance glanced back at Marinette before looking forwards again, speaking, "I know we're supposed to be brave paladins and Defenders of the Universe or whatever but, honestly, I just want to go home."

Coran looked sadly at Lance, responding once more, "If I could go home, I would."

"I miss rain and splashing in puddles." Lance chuckled quietly.

"Rain?" Coran questioned.

"Yeah. It's water that falls from the sky." Lance chuckled as he explained.

"Oh, we had that on Altea. Only it wasn't water, more like rocks. Razor sharp and boiling hot. Oh, they could knock a hole right in your head." Coran reminisced.

Marinette spoke up then, giggling. "Sounds like fun, Coran."

"Yeah." Coran sighed out. The three stood there for a while, gazing at the planets. Coran finally shook himself out of his remeniscing, "We should go back to the party, it's for you after all." Marinette stood behind for a moment as Lance and Coran turned towards the door. With a sigh, she followed behind them and noticed Rover enter into the room. "Hey there buddy," She greeted him, as did Lance. But as she continued to walk on, Marinette saw Lance pause and question himself. "Wait. Where's Pidge?" Marinette felt her eyes widen and looked at Rover in time to here him start beeping rapidly. "That's a bomb! Get down!" Marinette cried while Lance tackled Coran, covering his body. Marinette hit the ground hard behind some steps when the explosion reached her and felt herself black out.

She began to stir slightly as she heard Shiro call out her and Lance's name. Groaning, she opened her eyes a little and saw Keith was the one holding her. She looked over and saw Lance was being held by Shiro. Marinette groaned again, feeling pain originating from her entire body. She tried to resist her bodies urgings to fall unconscious again but was unsuccessful as she felt her eyes close again.

Marinette felt herself being cradled in someone's arm and could hear muttering. She wanted to open her eyes and move but she felt so heavy. She felt the herself being placed down gently and someone being placed along side her. Marinette groaned as she managed to shift herself minutely and felt a hand brush her hair before it disappeared. However, as the hand left, she felt as two small bodies pressed against her cheeks. The Kwamis! She was their Guardian, their friend and had to protect them.

It took a moment amd great effort but Marinette slowly opened her eyes. "Plagg, Tikki." Marinette quietly groaned.

At her voice, the two Kwami appeared in her vision. "Marinette! You have to get up! The Galra are here and only Shiro is here to defend the castle!v Tikki squeaked.

"Come on Cookie. You have to get up and hide. We need you Marinette!" Plagg pleaded, looking worried.

"I'm too injured guys. I'll revoke my Guardianship later when I can, get you guys to safety but I want you two to get away. Go to the others and let them know what's happening. Only intervene if the Miraculous Box is in damger of being discovered." Marinette told them, feeling her injuries slowly dragging her back into unconsciousness. She forced a small smile to them before everything went back again.

She was roused momentarily as she felt herbody hit the floor hard. Marinette opened her eyes a slit and saw her brother holding his glowing hand at Sendak's throat and Sendak had his own glowing arm at Shiro's. "She vaguely heard someone threaten to shoot her and Lance and watched as Shiro looked at them on the floor, panicking. She felt her eyes close once more as Shiro was punched and knocked unconscious.

Marinette felt herself stirring again. She finally felt some strength returned to her and she held in a groan, remembering the fact that the Galra were in the castle now. She opened her eyes a little bit, trying to take stock of the situation. She noted Lance laying not far from her, looking to be in worse condition than her. He must have been in it's direct path. Would explain how they both got injured badly but she could still stir herself awake.

Marinette continued her observation: Shiro was still unconscious but seemed to be awakening slowly. Sendak was standing at the Castle's control panel and observing cameras. Marinette then took stock of her body. Closing her eyes again, she tensed her arms to see if there were any bindings. Upon finding none, she did the same with her legs and reached the same conclusion. Contining her breathing, Marinette tried to pull together a plan to defeat Sendak. No matter how hard she tried to place together a plan though, her head would throb and distract her.

Finally, Marinette resigned herself to waiting for the right moment to strike. She carefully listened but Sendak didn't say a word, just continued to watch the cameras. He was waiting for something Marinette realized. But before she could give it much more thought, she heard Shiro groan and heard some shifting. 'He must be sitting up.' Marinette concluded. And that was when she finally heard a voice echo through the room. "Powering sub-panels."

Sendak gave an order immediately after that. "Sub panel energy transducer is go."

"Aye sir. Opening pathway to link with bridge." The voice confirmed. Sendak turned, looking towards Shiro (she assumed). "Initializing main cluster reboot." The voice soon continued. "Initializing complete. I'm set for main power up."

"The bridge is go." Sendak replied.

"Powering up." An alarm began blaring as the man came through again. "Sir, something is wrong." 

'He said that too calmly, if there was something wrong he should sound a little worried.' Marinette thought. 'What are they doing? What's their plan?'

She heard the guy over the comm cry out before the communication cut out. Sendak turned again and Marinette heard him curse before doing something on the panel. She heard him growl a moment and then began to demand a response from the guy. "Hackus, report in!"

But it wasn't Haxus's voice that came through. "Haxus is gone and you're next!" Pidge's voice rang out.

"You slowed me down but this ship is mine! You will turn yourself over to me immediately!" Sendak snarled.

"Never!" came Pidge vehement denial.

"Well maybe your leader can convince you." Sendak told her. At that Marinette snapped her eyes open and struggled to get up. Like hell would she let anything happen to her brother, older or not. "Oh, would you look at that. The White Paladin has stopped pretending to sleep. Maybe she could convince you instead."

Sendak approached them and Shiro glared up at him. "What do you want?" Shiro snapped.

"Your friend wanted to hear frommone of you." Sendak chuckled.

"Shiro? Marinette?" Pidge voice rang louder, reaching Shiro now.

"Pidge!" Shiro and Marinette cried out.

"Pidge don't listen to him-" Shiro started before screaming as Sendak electrocuted him. He slumped down whem it was over.

"Pidge, shut this castle down. Don't worry about-" Marinette weakly cried, still trying to sit up before feeling Sendak's heavy arm settle on her shoulder and was also electrocuted. Her already weak body convulsed before slumping to the floor, black tinging her vision.

"No! Stop it!" Pidge cried out at both electrocutions.

Marinette listened as Sendak spoke to Pidge, clearly enjoying the pain he was causing. "You can make it all stop. Turn yourself in. Their suffering is in your hands." Marinette panted to herself and blinked, trying to get rid of the black spots and ignore the pain. Sendak walked back over to Shiro and examined him. Finally, he began speaking to him. ""I'm impressed you managed to escape. Perhaps it would be worth the trip to your planet to see if the rest of your kind have your spirit. Of course, they will all end up broken, just like you. Now that we have Voltron, every planet, every race, all share the same fate."

Marinette listened as Sendak then walked away, heading to the control panel once more. She closed her eyes, tired, and fell into a shallow sleep. It was to Pidge shaking her and quietly calling her and Shiro's name that Marinette awoke for the fifth time that night. Before she could move however, she heard Pidge cry out and be yanked away.

Marinette could hear Sendak speak but was distracted by seeing Lance wake up for the first time. Marinette watched as he took stock of the situation, forcing himself to sit up by a wall, and summoned his Bayard. She took that as a initiative, forcing herself to sit up by Lance and copied his idea by summoning her Bayard yoyo. She glanced over at Sendak and saw him holding Pidge with his metal arm.

It was also then that Marinette noticed Keith and Allura were in the room. She continued to watch as Lance took aim towards Sendak's back and fired, causing him to release Pidge. Sendak turned and growled upon seeing the three of them up, even as Lance collapsed backwards. Shiro stood up and charged him but was hit away when he couldn't defend himself. Keith took that as an opportunity to attack, slashing his arm and kicking his stomach. But before Keith could continue to press his advantage, he was grabbed and thrown. But Marinette and Pidge took that as their opportunity to strike. Marinette flicked her wrist and wrapped her wire around Sendak's legs, pulling as hard as she could while Pidge slashed at the energy arc connecting the metal arm to Sendak's shoulder.

Sendak cried in outrage as he fell to his knees. "No!" But as Marinette pulled her yoyo back and Keith kicked him, sending him back more, Allura pulled up a forcefield around Sendak and trapped him.

Marinette felt herself relax then, joking "Well, that was fun. Let's never do that again." She gained a few breathless laughs and continued, "I'm going to fall asleep now. Go team though!" Marinette slumped back, closing her eyes and ignoring her surroundings, falling slowly into a peaceful sleep.


	11. Chapter Ten

Marinette felt as she slowly rose to conscience and how much better she felt from... whenever she was last awake. Then a quiet hissing sound filled the air and she stumbled forward. Glancing around, Marinette noticed Lance was stumbling forward as well and the other were a few feet away, crowded around something. She wobbled over to Lance, her legs unsteady and, holding on to each other, they walked to the other's together. She vaguely heard a ticking noise, almost like a clock, as they stumbled over. However, Lance stole any comment she might have said as he tiredly asked "You guys having a clock party?"

"As, Lance, you just ruined it." Hunk pouted before realizing who was standing behind them. "Hey, Lance, Marinette!" He pulled them into a big hug, squeezing them hard as they tried to hug him back. After a moment, Hunk placed them down but Marinette was quickly tugged into another hug by Shiro.

"I can't leave you alone for a minute. I look away and you get into such trouble, little trouble maker." Shiro tried teasing her, although Marinette could hear his voice shake as his hug grew a little tighter.

"Oh, like a bomb and being electrocuted could take me out. You heard about the Akuma attacks from me for a long while. They could be worse, although I do remember you being jealous at the space train since it meant I was in space before you." Marinette teased back, hoping that it would put him at ease. Shiro chuckled and released her, looking a little more relaxed.

"What happened?" Lance spoke up finally, still looking a little disoriented.

"Before that's answered, can I get my clothes and get dressed please?" Marinette cut in quick. Soon, now fully clothed, caught up to speed on everything, and being fed, she leaned back in the dining rooms seats. She had stopped in her room to grab the miraculous box, inform the Kwami that she was alright now, and placed it in her backpack. Marinette observed her team mates, smiling as Lance and Keith bickered about something that Keith insisted happened but Lance denied because he couldn't remember it.

"So what happened to Sendak?" Lance questioned, gaining Marinette's full attention.

"He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the Castle." Allura informed them.

"Is there anyway he could possibly escape? I don't want to think about what could happen if he did." Marinette said, leaning her arms on the table after pushing her food goo bowl aside.

"There is no way unless he had help from someone else. He is too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him." Allura reassured her.

"So, what's the plan now?" Lance asked.

Hunk interjected quickly, "We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people."

"You got a lady friend there, Hunk?" Marinette teased.

"No, it's not like that. Guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home- they've been under his thumb for so long, they don't know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a paladin of Voltron is all about." Hunk explained passionately. "It's time to man up."

Marinette noted how Pidge's expression changed at Hunk's last sentence. Shiro didn't and turned while stating "Then let's get moving. Time to go defend the universe."

Pidge straightened up, looking at everyone while quickly stopping everyone with her words. "Wait, I have something to say first. I need to come clean. And I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore, I can't 'man up.' I.m a girl. I mean, I can 'man up' because that's a figure of speech. I don't have to actually be a man to 'man up.' I just have to be tough."

Marinette just started laughing at her, "Well, great way to be dramatic but great job coming clean to everyone else, although apparently only Lance didn't know." As everyone laughed, Marinette composed herself before speaking up again. "However, I have something I want to tell you guys too. I wanted to tell you all sooner, especially you, Shiro, Keith. But it wasn't just my decision and it was only shortly after the team was formed that everyone agreed." Everyone looked curiously at her and their eyebrows furrowed when she reached into her backpack to pulled out the Miraculous Box.

"How is a fancy jewelry box such a big secret? And what do you mean by others?" Lance questioned, returning to the table with everyone and leaned over to touch the box. Marinette, on reflex, smacked his hand away while simultaneously pulling the box closer to herself.

She took a deep breath then continued. "Sorry, instincts. Did it to Shiro and Keith a couple of times. Anyways, this is the Miraculous Box and it hold jewelry called the... well... Miraculous. Each holds immeasurable power that could be devastating in the wrong hands. That's where I come in. I am the Guardian of the Miraculous and I am to protect them with my life if necessary. I will teach you more later but I wanted to tell you all and introduce you to some... friends." Marinette smiled mischievously.

"Okay, so you're crazy. Got it." Lance nodded to himself.

"So aliens aren't crazy but magical jewelry... Okay, yeah... I can see how that sounds crazy. But let me introduce you to Tikki, Plagg, Mullo, Wyazz, Roarr, Sass, Kaalki, Trixx, Pollen, Nooroo, Stompp, Fluff, Duusu, Longg, Ziggy, Orikko, Xuppu, Barkk, and Daizzi." Marinette introduced one by one as they flew out. "They are Kwami. They are what give the Miraculous their power and therefore, their wielders power."

Everyone blinked, Shiro finally spoke up. "I... Did not expect that but... hello? I think?"

Pollen sniffed, squeaking "Hello is perfectly fine. Now, Guardian, are we going to be wielded by any of these people? We may have agreed to be revealed but we want you to decide if any are to be our wielders."

"Don't rush her Pollen! She only just told them and you already want a wielder." Duusu scolded before flipping to chipper. "Besides, isn't it fun to be out and about freely. The most we were able to do so was when me and Nooroo were forced to help Gabe and Nat fight Mari, Adri, Plagg, and Tikki. So nice to be able to wander..."

Marinette smiled and cupped Duusu in her hands. "Always like a leaf, or feather, in the wind with your moods Duusu."

Allura spoke up then, "So the Guardian language you spoke of when we met, that was what you mistook Altean for?"

Tikki giggled, "I can answer that! The Guardians language is actually Altean. The Alteans, many centuries ago, came to earth. They met our Guardians and, after befriending them, taught them your language before leaving. It has been used and taught to any Guardian since then."

"Beside, sugar cookie and sugar cube would be all serious if Marinette decided to give anyone one of the Miraculous." Plagg spoke drifting by before flying to Marinette. "Is there any Camembert left? I'm hungry!"

"I don't know Plagg. Did you eat it all?" Marinette teased.

"How is everyone not freaking out right now?" Lance finally burst. "I mean, Pidge is a girl and Marinette has magical jewelry and no one is freaking out! What's next? The castle is actually a ship?!"

Shiro coughed before speaking up. "Well, first of all, all of us except you figured out Pidge was a girl already so we weren't suprised there. The uh, Miraculous?" At Marinette's nod, Shiro continued his explanation. "The Miraculous was more of a suprise but given the fact I was kidnapped by aliens, escaped, was rescued by you all, hopped into a alien lion warship, traveled to the other end of the universe, and all the other things we've been through? Not a super big, mind melting moment really. And the castle is a ship. Did you not know?" Everyone nodded at his words and looked at Lance curiously. Lance just face palmed, mumbling quietly to himself and Marinette giggled at his reaction. 

After settling down, the paladins, Alteans, and Kwami finally left for the control room and watched as Allura walked to the center of the room. When she reached the middle, a display popped up along with chairs corresponding with each paladin all around the room. Marinette quickly traveled to her seat and as she sat down, a monitor showing both a diagnostic of the ship and weapon systems popped up. With a jerk, she finally noticed that she was sitting the closest to Allura and Shiro, therefore the one who would relay information to them so they could help make accurate desicions while the others would focus on the repair and fighting. She was the middle point even in the castle. And now that she was finally paying close attention, she noted that the Kwami's all dispersed to look at what each person was doing. Barkk and Fluff were looking at Hunk's display while talking with him while Duusu and Trixx had wandered over to Lance. Plagg and Stompp had followed Keith, talking with him and... was that a smirk that they all had? Marinette shook her head, deciding to ignore what was happening with those three as she glanced over at where Pidge was examining her display and also holding a conversation with Nooroo and Ziggy. Glancing forwards, she also noted that Wyazz and Xuppu were examining what Coran was doing. Sass, Longg, and Roarr joined Shiro while Pollen, Kaalki, and Daizzi had joined Allura. Tikki, Orikko, and Mullo had chosen to stay by Marinette herself; she smirked as she realized how quickly the Kwami's found like people. As she listened to Allura give commands to Coran, Marinette mused that it did make sense; little gods and all that. Marinette finally sat up and started to tap at her moniter in order to learn the controls so she would be able to work quickly when needed. As she finally looked out the windows when they reached space, Marinette felt her breath catch as she gazed at all the new constellations in the stars. She knew then that being in the stars was all she would ever need or want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left Kudos and a comment on my work! It was inspiring and gave me the final push I need and wanted to finish this chapter up.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to add this at the beginning of the chapter to just thank someone who commented. I've been trying to write any story for a little while now but have been insanely busy and just going through some stuff that kind of ended up with someone on discord accidentally triggering me into an anxiety attack. I've been shaking and down since. Then I saw this person's comment, and it helped to know that my writing made someone happy. So thank you readingismyoxygen. You really helped. This chapter is for you.

Marinette sighed, leaning against the wall as she watched over her team. They had long since left their seats and gotten dressed in their armor for when they would arrive at the Balmera while the kwami simply hovered around, although Duusu seemed to enjoy laying on Lance’s head. Hunk was pacing and trying to plan how Voltron could go about freeing the Balmera and her people. “So, when we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and start blasting? Or do we land and have some kind of public address system, like,” Hunk began to imitate being severe and demanding, “Attention, Galras, this is Voltron. Turn yourselves in. Do you think that would work?” Hunk glanced at everyone and slumped when he saw their looks. “No. Blasting, right?”

Marinette pushed off the wall and wandered over, clearing her throat to get everyone’s attention. She smiled at HUnk while saying, “Actually, if the Balmera is a living being, blasting is a bad option. We could end up hurting it, but the announcement wouldn’t work. Sneaking onto the Balmera may be the best option.”

Shiro chuckled, “It’s everyone’s first rescue mission together. Hunk, you’re just excited.”

Pidge got a wicked smirk on her face and let her head fall back on the steps she was leaning against so she could look directly at Hunk. “Excited to see his girlfriend,” she teased him.

Hunk squawked, telling Pidge, “She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a rock that I met and admire very much.” Marinette laughed, but it was abruptly cut off as an alarm sounded throughout the ship. The entire team lurched up as one, ready to move at the slightest hint of there being a danger. Even the kwami looked alert and ready for anything.

Shiro looked at Coran, immediately questioning him, “What is it? Are we being attacked?”

Coran glanced back at the group, Wyazz and Xuppu still hovering around him and shook his head. “No. It seems to be a distress beacon.”

Allura piped in from where she was piloting the ship, “It’s coming from a nearby moon. Apparently, a ship has lost power.”

Pidge got a thoughtful look on her face, musing, “I wonder who it is.”

Hunk burst into the conversation again, now soothed that an attack was not occurring. “Whoever it is will have to wait. Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we’re done.” Marinette felt disappointment fill her eyes and face as she gazed at Hunk, and she could see a few Kwami throw their disappointed looks at him. Hunk flinched when he finally noticed the glances.

Allura sighed and informed Hunk, “The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need.” Hunk pursed his lips and crossed his arms but nodded, knowing that with everyone else for helping the ship, he could not win. Marinette glanced at Barkk and Fluff and tilted her head to the side, indicating that they should follow her. Before wandering entirely off, she caught Shiro’s eye and gestured to the Kwami floating by her head then to a spot a little ways off. Shiro glanced between everyone before decisively nodding; Marinette grinned at that, darting forwards to hug him before dashing to the corner.

Without waiting for a moment, Marinette immediately started talking in a hushed voice. “Barkk, Fluff. You seem to like Hunk, yeah?”

Fluff nodded while Barkk enthusiastically yipped out, “Yes! He is very kind and gives good scratches. He could be a good hero!”

Marinette nodded at that, “Yes, he will be. But, I think he focuses too much on small details during slow moments but then focuses too much on bigger details during battle. Can you two help him with that? Fluff, you help him see the big moments to focus on during times like these and Barkk, you help guide Hunk to focus during moments of high stress.”

This time, Fluff chose to respond after sharing a glance with Barkk. “It would be our pleasure. But, am I to assume that, as you notice things your team needs help on, you will try and direct kwami to help guide them so they may achieve their full potential?” Marinette sighed, glancing over at her team; she wasn’t surprised the kwami had already caught on, they were centuries old after all.

“I am.” Marinette admitted, “But I plan on training each of them to be a Guardian. I may not fully reassemble the Order, but the miraculous and you guys need more than one person to guard you. If I can start helping to guide them by assigning kwami to help bring their potential to the surface, well, that’s what I plan on doing. Fu did well by having Tikki guide me before himself. It was less stressful. Anyways, we should get back. It looks like we’re close to the moon. Stay hidden while we help but nearby; can you let the other Kwami know too? It’ll be easier for you to spread the message discreetly than me.” With a final nod from both kwami, they all rejoined the original group.

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Marinette pursed her lips and crossed her arms as she watched the group they had stopped to help. She wanted to trust them, but there was something… off about them. Rolo was talking to Shiro, Allura, and Keith. Pidge busy was examining Beezer, and Lance had taken a shine to Nyma. Hunk seemed to be the only one that sensed the same thing Marinette had and the one trying to fix the downed ship; Marinette wished she could help, but while she had a passing knowledge of how to fix a ship in case of emergencies, it was more of a “how to jerry-rig your ship to last long enough to get to an actual mechanic than actual fixing. Marinette turned her attention back to what Rolo was saying long enough the hear the tail end of whatever he was saying.

“...Before I lost something.” was all she caught before Rolo lifted a pant leg to show off a metal leg he tapped. Marinette narrowed her eyes; this was stinking of something, but she wasn’t quite sure what yet. Hunk came back with the last of the supplies but was ignored as Allura tried to mine knowledge from Rolo.

Marinette eyed them but drew closer to Hunk. “Hey, Hunk?” Marinette said softly to get his attention. When Hunk turned to look at her, she continued. “Is there something off about all this to you?”

Hunk frowned and glanced over the group. He sighed and admitted, “Yeah. I mean, I’m anxious to get back to the Balmera but, something about how they seem to have something that would hold almost all of our attention, like Lance with Nyma, Pidge with Beezer. I think you were meant to be caught up in the conversation that Rolo, Keith, Shiro, and Allura are having. Me, the ship.”

Marinette nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’m going back to the ship. I want to be close to White in case something happens. You help fix the ship but try and pass on our suspicions to Shiro. We need to be prepared.” Hunk nodded, and Marinette patted his arm before retreating to the ship, seeing the flicker of red, gray, and some green follow her. Tikki, Mullo, and Orikko were still following her around, and Marinette already planned to seek their counsel in this situation. But even so, Marinette could only hope she and Hunk would be proven wrong.

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Marinette cursed to herself for getting distracted by helping Coran clear out Galra corruption in the systems, allowing Lance to sneak himself and Nyma to his Lion. A lion which Nyma had then stolen while leaving Lance tied to a tree. She could hear Hunk ranting about how they both knew not to trust the three but ignored him, already in White with her three Kwami and taking off, hoping to cut off the ship before they could get any further. The others caught up quickly. Hunk had finally stopped ranting, and the five paladins focused on catching up with the ship. However, the thieves must have noticed they were being followed, and the ship darted into an asteroid field.

They all pulled to a stop, and Pidge immediately cried out, “We’ll never get through this asteroid field!”

“Maybe I can just bust through!” Hunk offered before doing just that. However, that just made it, so all the asteroids began to bump against each other. “Nope! That was wrong. That was a bad idea,” Hunk told them as he retreated. 

It was Shiro that offered the solution. “Keith, Mari. You two are the only ones who could possibly fly through this. We need you two. Get in there, circle in front of him and flush him out for us.”

“You got it. See you on the other side.” Keith responded, taking off into the field.

“Aye, Aye Captain!” Marinette teased to lift the severe air before taking off after Keith. She saw Keith a little ways away and slipped her thin ship between two asteroids to catch up. “Hey, little cactus. Why don’t we round these guys up and then go back to the castle and spar? I’m sure it’ll be a fun fight,” she bantered with Keith.

He grinned. “Why don’t we make it more interesting,” Keith stated as he dived under one asteroid and around another. “Whoever catches up to the ship first has to fight against both the Gladiator and the other.”

Marinette laughed in exhilaration as she slipped between two asteroids and over another. “You’re on!” With that, they raced even harder to flush out the ship but soon also had the additional challenge of dodging blaster fire from the thieves themselves. Taking off one of his lions small wings, Keith had his lion trow it at the blasters while Marinette made them focus on her. The short blade destroyed the blasters, and the ship finally left the field, only to be blasted by Marinette, taking out on of the jets. Still working together, both Marinette and Keith dived and clung their lions claws onto the top of the ship, they began pulling the ship back to the moon where the castle and Lance resided still.

“So, tie? We had to work together to get them out so?” Marinette questioned with a grin, Tikki and Orikko shaking their heads in fond exasperation while Mullo just laughed.

“Sure, we’ll both battle two or three Gladiators. Give us a good challenge.” Kieth told her before opening a channel to Lance. Marinette tuned them out to relax a bit; sure, the battles have helped remind her of the adrenaline she now craved from her time as Ladybug, but she hadn’t realized how much she missed Adrien before. Sure she hadn’t known that in was Adrien at the time, but leaping across rooftops with him had been the highlight of her days. Sure, flying with Keith was fun, but there was something about Adrien that she longed for. Perhaps it was the fact that, despite how much her friends now knew about her, Marinette could only ever fully relate to Adrien on the War in Paris. They had seen horrifying things, spent sleepless nights, and still tried to track down Hawkmoth while balancing the multiple things their normal lives gave them to deal with. Adrien was the only one who had seen her at her weakest, even if he didn’t know it. Marinette missed Adrien. (But little did she know that an incident in the future would bring her past forward to meet her then present.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I only just now noticed I forgot to put the correct chapter number. Sorry about that, I didn't want any confusion to pop up in the future.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I plan on trying to set a schedule for myself now. I will hopefully upload on this story every Monday. My other stories will maybe also get an upload schedule but for now, just this one will be a confirmed upload every Monday! Thanks for all the lovely comments I received this past week, it really helped with keeping my inspiration for this story going!

_ Back on Earth, sometime in the future _

Adrien sighed, lightly touching the desk in his room. After he and Ladybug had revealed that his father had been Hawkmoth, Adrien was given all of his father’s things, including the house and company. The following days were busy as Adrien began managing his father’s company. He had barely any time for his friends, seeing them for only moments at a time as multiple issues would land on his desk throughout the day and interviewing for a CEO to run the company for him when he went to university. As it was, he barely managed to find out that Marinette was moving and buy her a small going away present. It had been a small necklace with a small cat carved out of hematite, a black crystal-like gem. Her eyes had glimmered with unshed tears when he presented it to her and she had pulled him into a hug.

“You stay safe, okay Adrien?” Marinette had told him after releasing him.

“I will if you do the same. And kick some ass for me at the Garrison.” Adrien had replied and Marinette’s tinkling laugh sent a warm feeling through his chest. That had been years ago and,  _ god _ , did Adrien miss her. He missed how seeing her in parks, sketching new designs with her tongue sticking out. He missed her smile and laugh. Adrien missed a lot about Marinette, just as he missed Ladybug. The two most amazing women in his life and he walked away from one while the other left the country. Adrien closed his eyes and sighed; he wished he could see at least one of them again but Ladybug had disappeared after Hawkmoth and Marinette disappeared along with three cadets and Keith a few months ago. Adrien, of course, knew about Keith. He had talked with Marinette every week and she had loved to talk about her two boys over there. Adrien shook his head, now was not the time to be reminiscing. He had sparring practice to get to (having never given up fencing while also taking up parkour and acrobatics in his free time). Adrien straightened up and walking over to grab his rapier, fencing bag, and satchel. However, as he grabbed them all, the floor beneath his feet disappeared. As he fell, all Adrien could think was that one, it was a portal he had fallen through and two, wasn’t the blue color of said portal familiar?

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_ The Altean Castle, Present time _

Marinette chuckled as she blasted at the Galra installations placed around the Balmera, as Pidge dropped off all the different sensors and Shiro took out the main power generator. Having destroyed most of them, she flew back as she heard Keith cheer.

“Did you guys see that? I have firepower!” Keith said, excitement clear in his voice.

“Aw, I want that,” Lance pouted.

Marinette laughed but, upon coming insight and seeing the tower Keith must have blasted falling, she gasped and urged her lion forward to catch it. Hunk had the same idea as he joined her. “We can’t let this thing fall, it’ll hurt the Balmera!” Marinette cried out as she and Hunk struggled to keep the tower from reaching the surface.

“Hang on you guys! I think my lion knows what to do,” Lance told them. Marinette just grunted in response, pulling up on her controls as she and White strained under the weight. Soon though, the tower grew lighter and Marinette moved White’s head to glance behind her. Upon seeing ice form and crawl closer to them, she flew away, hoping the ice would hold and grinned when it did.

“Awesome job Lance,” Marinette praised him as all the lions landed on the tower to look out over one of the mining shafts.

They all stood still but when none flew out, Keith voiced out a concern. “Where are all the troops? They’re not coming to the surface.”

“Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines,” Hunk told the others, just as confused.

“Allura, do you see any sign of the Galra with the sensors?” Marinette questioned, lips pursed.

“We have! We located a hanger full of Galra Fighters just below the surface. Someone has to take those out before they can launch.” Allura informed them.

“They’re luring us down, but we have no choice. Keith, Lance, you guys hit the hanger. Hunk, head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge, Marinette, and I will hunt down the Galra soldiers.”

“Yes, sir.” Keith acknowledged.

“Ten-four.” Lance said, tone serious.

“On it.” cried Pidge.

“Let’s do this!” Hunk shouted, voice filled with determination.

“Time to get down to business,” Marinette smirked.

With that, all the lions took off towards the different sides of the Balmera and to complete their different tasks. Marinette broke off from Pidge and Shiro first, landing down in a mining shaft and pressed a few buttons. She then sat up straight again as her chair and controls began to push back and down into a small pod. She took off deep into the Balmera; it was time to destroy some Galra.

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Marinette grumbled as they all raced back to their lions. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Kwami, if I wasn’t Ladybug before all of this, I’d be very frustrated with the Galra at the moment.” The other paladins all grunted in response but kept silent beyond that.

When Marinette finally reached her lion, she could hear Shiro’s voice crackle to life in her ear. “Guys, did everyone make it to the lions in time?”

“Just getting in Shiro. I’ll be up there soon,” Marinette said, the chair pushing up into the cockpit. She pushed the controls forward and blasted out of the tunnel, reaching Shiro just as everyone else did.

“Come on, Shiro. Who do you think you’re dealing with, a bunch of amateurs?” Lance said cockily before yelping as he ran into a small tower.

Marinette laughed and she could hear a smirk in Shiro’s voice as he replied, “Do you really want me to answer that?” Lance let out a grumbled no. Shiro then took control of the situation again, yelling out, “Let’s go!” They all blasted forwards and started to attack the Galra ships surrounding the Altean Castle. In a few minutes, they had most of the ships taken out and Marinette relaxed minutely.

However, before they could celebrate, they heard Allura cry out for them. “Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we’re finished!”

“Alright, let’s form Voltron!” Shiro ordered. They began fusing together and upon its completion, they blasted off into the sky. Working together, they maneuvered Voltron to underneath the battleship attacking Allura and Coran with its ion cannon and pushed upwards so it was no longer hitting the forcefield that formed around the Altean Castle.

“We’re in perfect position to attack Princess!” Coran cried out.

“Alright. Charge cannon, lock onto target, and fire!” Allura quickly ordered. Voltron stayed where it was to help prevent the ship from moving until the last second and let go, blasting away. The paladins pulled to a stop by the ship and watched as the battleship exploded, taking out the rest of the other Galra ships in its wake.

They all let out a cheer, before gently drifting down to the surface of the Balmera and Allura guiding the ship down after them. “Mission accomplished,” Keith sighed in relief.

“And just in the tick of time. The Castle’s defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge.” Allura said cheerfully but as an alarmed blared, everyone straightened up again, ready to battle.

Before anyone could ask what was going on, Coran quickly informed them all, “There’s an unknown object incoming! It’s about to crash into the Balmera!” Before any of the paladins could react, the object flew through the Balmera’s atmosphere and crashed into it, sending dust flying into their vision.

“What the heck is that?” Lance breathed out.

“Trouble,” was all Shiro said, voice grave.

“It looks like the thing that robot on Arus came out of. I think it might be something similar.” Marinette observed.

“Well, if it's the same monster as on Arus, we already know how to beat it,” Keith said, activating the sword as Pidge also activated the shield.

“Hold your ground,” Shiro told everyone as they waited for the capsule to open.

“Shiro, I don’t think it will be the same monster. Why would the Galra send something we already know how to defeat?” Marinette cautioned, eyebrows furrowed. Shiro didn’t respond as the capsule opened, revealing that it was, indeed, a different monster. Before the paladins could do much more than move the shield to be in front of them, the monster focused its eyes on them and sent a blast that, upon hitting their shield, pushed them back.

“It’s not candy!” Hunk cried out as he and Lance tried to dig Voltron’s feet into the ground.

“And it’s definitely not the same monster!” Lance grunted.

Marinette twisted the torso, pulling them out of the blast’s path as Shiro started to give out orders. “We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera’s surface!”

Lance and Hunk started to blast them all away from the Balmera’s surface but was cut off as the monster also took to the air and blasted them back towards the surface, luckily hitting their shield once more. All the paladins cried out as some remnants of the blast reached them before once again dodging out of the way. They continued to dodge the beast’s blasts before going in for a charge. The monster dodged and they flew past them; Marinette tried to turn them around quickly so that their back wouldn’t be exposed. However, she was too late as the beast managed to hit them on the shoulder and they stumbled back. Despite that, Lance and Hunk managed to dodge them out of the way of two more blasts before blasting away to try and find a strategic area. They were forced to turn around once more upon hearing another blast incoming and Pidge brought the shield up once more to defend them.

“We can’t hold out!” Lance said, grunting as they were pushed back some more.

“My lion is weakening!” Pidge informed everyone, voice strained as she tried to keep the shield in place. “If the shield sustains structural damage, we’re done for.”

“Pidge is right!” Keith agreed.

“Oh, Pidge is right. I’m the one that said we can’t hold out!” Lance grouched at Keith.

“Lance, rock behind us. Be careful with your footing!” Marinette warned a moment too late as Lance was pushed back a little more and tripped over the rock. The shield broke as they fell on their back, Marinette groaning as she was harshly thrown in her seat.

“Okay, Team Voltron, disband!” Shiro ordered them, “Everyone, evasive maneuvers! It can’t shoot us all at once!” His words were quickly proven wrong as the beast showed the underside of its arms and began using multiple blast to try and knock them out of the air.

“Well, it apparently can do that too!” Marinette told him before crying out as one of the blasts managed to hit her. She drifted for a second and the monster took aim at her once more but was lucky saved as Allura used the castle’s cannon to knock the monster down, giving Marinette the time needed to recover.

“Marinette, are you alright?” Allura questioned, her tone worried.

“I’m fine, just be careful! It’ll probably focus on you now too,” Marinette both assured and warned her. Her prediction quickly turned true as the beast began to blast at the castle.

“Princess, the particle barrier won’t sustain much longer. It’s still not at full strength after the blast from the Galra ship,” Coran warned both Allura and the paladins.

“Keith, Marinette! Try and draw its fire!” Shiro ordered them, “I’m coming in from above.”

“Roger,” both Keith and Marinette said firmly, diving in and out of the blasts while trying to get closer to the beast itself and attempting to pose themselves as the bigger threat. When they got close enough, they began to fire at it and finally managed to capture its attention. It began to fire almost all its blasts towards them and Marinette cursed.

“Well, we got its attention. If you’re going to do something, do it now! Keith, on your six!” Marinette yelled out, as the two dived in and out of the way. She didn’t see what happened but Marinette could hear Shiro grunt in agitation.

“We need to find its blind spot,” Lance yelled out, irritation coating his tone.

“I don’t think this thing has a blind spot. It has a thousand eyes,” Pidge snarked back.

“Laser eyes. Laser eyes!” Hunk panicked.

“What do we do? Fighting this thing is like fighting an entire fleet at once!” Pidge said, thoughts flying as she tried to figure a way out of this.

“I think we got to aim for those laser eyes and take them out,” Keith guessed.

“We’ll cover you from up here!” Allura told them, before blasting the beast again to draw its fire.

Marinette could hear Coran panicking through the comms but ignored him as she took the moment to breath. Shiro ordered the Castle out of range and the lions to the mine shafts, citing that they needed a moment to stop and think. “Heading in!” Marinette cried as she began to dive to meet the others in the shaft. But as the others entered and Marinette attempted to follow, the monster started to fire at her and kept her away from the shafts.

“I don’t think I’m going to be joining you guys. The monster fixated on me and is keeping me away from the mines and the outer atmosphere. I can dodge them but I’m going to mute my comms. Ping me when you guys have a plan!” Marinette told everyone and quickly cut off the comms before anyone could protest. She let her mind clear of everything besides herself, White, and the lasers she needed to dodge. Marinette couldn’t tell how much time passed before a ping filled the cockpit and she opened her comms again. “What’s the plan guys?” she questioned as she continued to dive in and out of the line of fire.

“We’re all coming up. The Balmera is dying and starting to crumble. We need to provoke and evade the beast so the Castle can land to evacuate the Balmerans. And Allura is coming down in a pod so we need to be quick.” Shiro informed her.

“Got it. Time to get blasting then,” Marinette said lightly. Time to distract some more now.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette watched as the Balmera was healed in awe and the monster encased in crystal by it. She knelt down and touched the Balmera’s surface, quietly murmuring “I thank you, friend.” Marinette jerked her hand away when the Balmera glowed blue around her hand in response.

“You also have a unique power within you, the same as the Princess,” Shay’s grandmother told her, smiling gently. “It is a great power to have for one so young.”

Marinette dipped her head in respect towards her. “Thank you for your kind words.” The elderly Balmeran smiled and nodded before shuffling off towards her family. Marinette watched her go before turning and heading towards the castle. She had left the kwami in her room during this mission but after the beating the ship took, Marinette was worried about them. Gliding through the halls, she quickly reached her room and opened her door to find all the kwami huddled together by the Miraculous’s box. “Guys! Are you all okay?” Marinette rushed over and fretted over them all.

Plagg was the one to leave the huddle first, saying, “We’re fine, Princess. Just got a little shaken up with all the rumbling. Are you okay?”

Marinette shrugged, “Just a little banged up.” She hesitated before offering something she was thinking of. “I know we normally don’t do this but I think you would love to explore the Balmera and converse with it too. Would you all want too?”

The kwamis all glanced between themselves but Wyazz floated forward and nodded. “We shall. But Ithink we shall still stay close to the Paladins and Alteans we have grown attached to.”

“I guessed as much. I really think you’ll like this,” Marinette told them in excitement. As she wandered back towards the exit with all the kwami in tow, Marinette felt excited and hopeful for the days to come.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all were so sweet today leaving those comments that, despite my self control telling me no, I'm giving you guys another chapter.

Marinette stood staring at Sendak where he rested in the cryo-pod as Coran placed another device on it. “Okay, guys, Sendak’s almost all hooked up,” he told all the gathered Paladins and Kwami, the only people missing being Allura, Pollen, Kaalki, and Daizzi; the three kwami had elected to stay by Allura to keep her company. “But, look, I have to warn you. This technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners.”

Shiro glanced over at Coran, his expression grave. “Coran, we understand this isn’t what the technology was meant for, but if we can extract Sendak’s memories, we may gain valuable intelligence on Zarkon’s troop locations.”

“Yeah, and then we can just be like, ‘Knock-knock.’ ‘Who’s there?’ ‘The avenging fury of Voltron, son!’” Lance said, excitedly. Marinette sighed and shook her head.

“Lance, I think a little more stealth and trickery would make that plan better,” Trixx chittered.

“But that isn’t as fun!” Lance whined. Marinette chuckled as Lance and Trixx started to argue about which was the better plan, turning her attention back to the pod.

Pidge was looking at the technology in fascination, questioning Coran, “Fascinating. So, how exactly does this work?”

“As the memories are extracted, they’re written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands,” Coran told her, his attention still focused on setting up the memory extraction.

“So this is how King Alfor’s memories were incorporated into the Castle of Lions then?” Marinette questioned.

Coran nodded, glancing in her direction as Wyazz and Xuppu danced around his head. “Precisely, but it’s never been attempted before on an unwilling participant.” After he finished talking, Coran hit one last button before stepping away from the interface. All the paladins and kwami watched as the memory extraction tube next to Zarkon’s pod glowed.

“Is that what’s supposed to happen?” Hunk asked, looking curious. Mullo, Barkk, and Plagg all flew closer to the tube and examined it, looking curious. Coran simply nodded in response to Hunk’s question.

“Let’s give it some time,” Shiro told everyone, not taking his eyes off of Sendak’s unconscious form, Sass and Fluff plopping down on his head while looking bored. Marinette’s lips twitched; if the two kwami that were the embodiment of time looked bored, then Marinette could only guess that sooner than later, everyone else would leave while they waited for the process to be completed. Marinette settled herself down on the floor next to the pod, fiddling with Mullo’s necklace; she tried to where at least one Miraculous when not going on a mission. Today was Mullo’s turn and Marinette chuckled at everyone’s response if she transformed and used her power. Focusing back on everyone else, she watched as time passed and, starting with Keith, everyone started to disperse until it was only Shiro, Marinette, Mullo, and Sass by the tank. The other Kwami decided to take advantage of the fact that they could freely wander and took to exploring the entire castle.   
  


Marinette studied Shiro face from where she sat, he never took his eyes and, looking deep in them, she could see he looked almost scared. Sighing, she leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, willing herself to doze off; Shiro wouldn’t want to talk right now so she wouldn’t press. She felt Mullo lay down in her hair, tangling it enough to keep herself in place, and soon hear soft snores from her, which relaxed Marinette further. Marinette breathed evenly in and out for a good hour before she could hear rustling from Shiro moving.

“I know you’re in there, Sendak. I know you have all the answers. Give them to me,” Shiro muttered and Marinette heard a quiet thunk as Shiro, presumably, leaned against the glass. There was silence for a few moments before growled and punched the glass. Snarling, he said, “You’re a broken soldier! You can’t hold out forever!” Marinette startled as she heard the memory pod activate, her eyes flying open as she glanced over to see a purple substance enter it. Shiro glanced apologetically towards her before looking at Sendak and smirking. “So, you can hear me.” Sass even seemed to wiggle in pleasure at something happening finally.

Marinette pushed herself carefully off the ground, trying to not disturb the still sleeping Mullo, and walked to join Shiro in front of Sendak. Glancing up at Shiro, Marinette started to throw out questions. “Where are Galra soldiers stationed?”

After waiting a beat, Shiro asked another. “What was the first rank you held in Zarkon’s army?” At seeing only small pieces of memory fragments fall at each of the questions, Marinette leaned against Shiro and settled in for a long session of questioning.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where did you find the Red Lion?” Marinette questioned Sendak and saw a little more memory strands fall into the memory tube.

“What is Zarkon’s greatest weakness?” Shiro asked next but both got startled when they suddenly heard Sendak’s voice echo around them.

“What makes you think you can possibly defeat him?” the voice echoed. They glanced all around and even studied Zarkon to make certain that he was indeed not speaking.

Marinette took a deep breath before continuing. “If you were to attack Zarkon, where would you strike?”

Both Marinette and Shiro whipped around and nervously looked around as his voice echoed around the room again. Mullo woke up at that point and was quick to pick up on the tension filling Marinette’s frame and joined Sass in the air, tension also filling their small frames. “Why strike at all when you can join him?” Finally, the four turned towards Sendak’s unmoving form and gasped as it seemed that, for just a moment, Sendak smirked at them with his eye open. Marinette shifted into a defensive stance and Mullo hovered near her as the group stared in horrified silence. When no one spoke for a long time, Sendak’s voice echoed around them again. “We’re connected, us three. Two of us connected to the Galra Empire, two of us tied by our very souls to something we would protect with our lives.”

Marinette gave a sharp inhale and took a step back, grasping Mullo’s necklace while Shiro refuted Sendak’s claim. “No! We’re nothing like you.”

You’ve been broken and reformed. Look at your hand, Shiro. Examine your determination to protect everything you care for, even to the point of destroying all who stand in your way, Marinette.” Sendak told them.

Shiro glanced down horrified at his metal arm and Marinette took a step forward to try and disprove Sendak’s claim this time. “That isn’t Shiro and I’m not like you!”

“It’s the strongest part of you two. Embrace it. Care for yourselves alone and destroy any who can stand in your path,” Sendak purred out. “The others don’t know what you know. They haven’t seen what you’ve seen. Face it. You’ll never beat Zarkon. You know this Shiro, from seeing our forces first hand. You know Marinette because when have you ever been able to trust anyone that was human. He has already defeated you both!”

“I’m not listening to you!” Shiro cried out, holding his hands over his ears. Marinette could only stand frozen as memory upon memory invaded her mind of all the different amount of people she was meant to trust prove that they couldn’t be trusted to handle their emotions and therefore keep secrets. Or Chat Noir, Adrien, being akumatized in the alternate timeline into Chat Blanc; her partner, the one she was meant to trust above all had proven that he too could be overwhelmed and akumatized. She couldn’t trust anyone. Everyone could be compromised. Don’t trust them. Don’t trust them. Don’t trust them.

She collapsed to the ground, her thoughts circling, as Sendak continued, “Do you really think monsters like you could be Voltron Paladins?” Memories of people, so many people dead in the streets only to be brought back filled her mind now. Hearing people scream as with patting their bodies as though they expected to find a sign of being killed. Horrifying memory after horrifying memory filled her mind as she curled into a ball, hands pulling at her hair in her distress.

Marinette heard a whoosh of air and Shiro, her big brother, scream out in anguish, “Stop it!” A cracking sound filled the room and Marinette look up to see that Shiro had punched the pod, leaving a crack in it now. She moved to her knees and crawled towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist when she got close enough. Taking a few seconds, she finally felt Mullo plastered to her head and quietly squeaking out words of encouragement and heard Sass doing the same for Shiro. Taking a deep breath, Marinette looked up towards Sendak’s face to see his eye open once more and another smirk on his face. Letting out a scream, Marinette pushed Shiro away from the pod and slammed her hand down on the eject button before scrambling backward until she ran into Shiro. Sitting there, they both stared wide-eyed where the pod once rested and panted, their hearts racing as the ejection alarms blared in warning.

It was that scene that greeted the others (which included all the Kwami’s beside the ones who had chosen to stay by Allura’s side. “Shiro, Marinette! Are you okay?” Pidge cried as Plagg and Tikki darted towards the two that were still slightly panicking on the floor, joining Sass and Mullo in trying to calm the two down.

Keith quickly noticed Sendak was missing. “Where’s Sendak?”

“We… We had to get him out of here,” Marinette panted out while gripping onto Shiro’s arm a little tighter, Shiro having wrapped his arms around her in a protective embrace before the group had arrived.

“We were hearing his voice,” Shiro told them, his voice trembling. “He… He can’t be trusted on this ship.”

Before they could work themselves up into a further panic, Lance yelled out, “It is the ship! I got stuck in a cryo-pod and then in an airlock. Keith got attacked by a robot, and Hunk and Pidge got attacked by food. It’s been a weird morning.” Marinette felt her heart start to slow as she took in Lance’s words; of course, Sendak couldn’t have known all those things but the castle, with all its programming, it could. She had quietly talked about it to the Kwami when she would wake from a nightmare. Marinette felt Shiro relax a little too but before either could say anything, a computer started beeping and Marinette read that the castle opened up and was going through a wormhole.

“What? How is that possible?” Coran questioned, confused.

“What is it?” Keith questioned, now very worried.

“The ship is starting a wormhole jump!” Kaalki said, reading the screen, sounding concerned. “Isn’t Allura the only one who can do that?”

They all took off to the bridge once Kaalki reminded them of that fact. Upon opening the door, they could see Allura standing at the navigation center, looking a little dazed. “Allura, what’s going on?” Shiro asked, concerned as too what could be happening.

“We’re going to Altea. We’re going home,” Allura breathed out, eyes focused on something only she could see. “My father is taking us.”

Concerned, they all rushed forward but before anyone could reach her, the hologram of King Alfor appeared between them all, yelling out, “Stay away from my daughter!”

Everyone stopped in their tracks and Shiro yelled out, “Allura, wake up!”

“The Galra’s crystal must have corrupted King Alfor’s artificial intelligence. It’s taking over!” Coran said, worried. Finally, the jump was completed and horror filled everyone’s face as they took in the bright, burning ball in front of the castle.

“Tell me that isn’t what I think it is,” Marinette groaned.

“I don’t think I can. We’re heading straight for a star and it’s about to explode!” Pidge yelled.

Marinette licked her lips before glancing at the Kwami. “If we need, me and the kwami can pool our energy together and push off the explosion of the star by a bit but not for too long or, even with this, the balance of the universe will be thrown off.”

Shiro glanced over and nodded, “Do it. Give us as much time as you can.”

Marinette nodded back, “We’ll do it here but we’ll all be in a trance. Take every second we give you and make it count.” With that, she and the Kwami dashed the corner; the Kwami all took position in a circle, and Marinette entered her meditation position at the center. Taking a deep breath, Marinette began the small ritual. “Honorable Kwami, I, Marinette Du Pain-Cheng, as the Guardian of the Miraculous, now ask for an intervention upon this star that is exploding. It would destroy the Miraculous if allowed to explode and as such, I ask that we pool our energy as one to slow the destruction of this star until our allies can deliver us out of danger.”

Plagg, as it was his domain, answered, “I, as the Kwami of Destruction, find your request agreeable. However, the balance of destruction and creation must be kept in balance. We shall not be able to slow the destruction entirely. Do you understand?”

Marinette nodded, “I do, Honorable Kwami.”

This time, it was Tikki who responded. “Then we shall begin. We shall channel our energy into you and you will focus your will on the slowing the destruction of the star.” The Kwami all began to singing and Marinette closed her eyes, meditating on her will to slow the star’s explosion. Soon, everything fell away until it was just Marinette and her powerful will. She felt herself breathe in and out, the only sound was that of her heartbeat. To her, no time could have passed until she felt a hand land on her shoulder. Blinking, the connection between her and the kwami fell; exhaustion hit her hard and she slumped forwards, being only caught by a cold metal arm. Looking up and around weakly, she saw all the kwami had simply formed a small pile together, also exhausted. Glancing up, she could see Shiro looking down at her concerned.

She gave him a tired smile, “I take it we’re all out of danger then.”

Shiro nodded, “Allura had to destroy her father’s AI so we could get out of there. But we’ll tell you about that later. Are you and the Kwami going to be okay?”

“We’ll be fine. Doing that just takes a lot out of us. Allura won’t be the only one that has to rest now,” Marinette tried to joke weakly.

Shiro pursed his lips but nodded. “Alright. Let’s get you all to your room then.” Marinette gave him a tired smile as he gently picked her up, before closing her eyes and letting her exhaustion lull her to sleep.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm being mildly lazy and just posting the new chapter tonight. So, enjoy the... events taking place in this chapter.

A few days later and both Marinette, Allura, and all the Kwami were back at full health from the rituals they had partaken in and were ready to start hunting down more Galra. Since some of Sendak’s memories were retrieved from when Marinette and Shiro had been questioning him, the paladins had decided to start there. They all crowded around Pidge’s terminal and watched as Pidge’s fingers flew across the keys to decode the memories they had captured and Fluff was dancing across the keys too. (Surprisingly, Fluff was excellent with technology but she had explained that it was because she had learned from looking at multiple different times and timelines.) “Somewhere inside Sendak’s memories, we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon,” Allura said, her tone determined.

“I don’t think your father would approve of searching through an enemy’s memories,” Coran said, a little unhappily.

Allura sighed, “I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon.”

“Once we knew the Galra’s weaknesses, we can start dismantling the Empire quickly. It will weaken Zarkon and that will give us an advantage. And we need every advantage we can get,” Marinette stated, tone serious.

Shiro nodded, “Anything good yet, Pidge, Fluff?”

“We have only been able to salvage bits and pieces,” Pidge told them, glancing their way before turning back to continue decoding and salvaging.

Keith sighed, “We need something to work with. Right now, we don’t even have a decent map of the empire.”

Lance scoffed, “Who needs a map? After ten thousand years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a Galra ship.”

“If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one,” Shiro muttered.

Lance groaned, “Boring. I want the big kaboom.”

“Zarkon has been building this empire of his for ten thousand years. Even if we take him down, the Galra will still be in control and another would take his place. We need to destroy the stranglehold the Galra has on other planets to help destabilize the empire so when we do get to Zarkon, the empire will finally collapse without someone keeping it going,” Marinette told Lance, exasperated.

“Okay, we’ve cross-referenced Sendak’s memories with the info Pidge got from the ship on Arus!” Fluff squeaked.  
“Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a Universal Station,” Pidge continued where Fluff left off.

“Universal station?” Hunk questioned, “Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?”

Fluff hummed as she answered Hunk, “Well, we are translating it from Galra so it could actually be Galactic Hub.”

“Or Space Base?” Lance joked. At that, everyone gave Lance a deadpan look except Duusu, who was cracking up. Their looks caused Lance to give out a defensive, “What?”

Coran simply walked away, telling Pidge and Fluff, “I’m pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now.” The image appeared on screen and Marinette frowned upon seeing nothing there besides three planets.

“So, are we suppose to be seeing something?” Plagg drawled, floating on his back with an eyebrow quirked.

“That’s strange. Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates,” Coran mused, looking confused.

“Maybe he remembered it wrong,” Keith suggested.

“If that were the cassse, then the coordinatesss from the ssship would be different, yesss?” Sass asked.

“Exactly. We possibly just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak’s memories,” Pidge suggested.

“Only one way to find out. Let’s go take a look,” Allura said, determination filling her voice. Coran quickly set course for that end of space and the castle was soon blasting off to the location.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later, Marinette looked up from reviewing the Castle’s general diagnostic, seeing what was all damaged when Allura spoke up from the controls. “We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed.” Taking in the castle’s surroundings, Marinette noted that they were hiding behind one of the nearby planets. Upon activating the scanners, they could finally see a small Galra base floating in between the three planets they noticed earlier.

“There it is,” Shiro breathed, noting all the details.

“It appears the gravitation between the three planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the base off the deep space scanners,” Coran informed them, surprised.

“So, you can only see it if you really know where to look,” Pidge noted. The group all watched as ships flew in and out of the station.

“I think that this place must handle shipments from all over the Empire,” Tikki said quietly.

“But if it’s just some airport for shipments, why hide it?” Mullo mused.

“There must be more to this than we’re seeing,” Shiro concluded, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Then, we’d better go down to take a look. We’ll need to enter here,” Allura said as she highlighted an area of the ship, “the central control building.”

Keith quickly noticed Allura’s choice of words, “I’m sorry, Princess, did you say we?”

Turning around, she saw Allura nod while saying, “I’m going with you. I’ve traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you.”

“Princess, I’d rather you stay here,” Coran said, worried.

“I agree with Coran. You may be more knowledgable but you are also our only way of using the jumps,” Marinette said, concerned as she tried to reason with Allura.

“I’m a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I’m going,” Allura held firm, a stubborn look crossing her face. “Does anyone have a problem with that?” Marinette sighed and shook her head when Coran looked to her for support again.

Coran looked desperately towards Shiro, only to receive a shrug and an “Okay, suit up.” Ignoring everyone’s reactions, she headed to get changed into her paladin armor. Reaching her room, she quickly pulled on her armor and went to remove Trixx’s necklace before hesitating; she didn’t want to use them but with an infiltration mission like this, Trixx’s abilities could be really useful. Marinette pursed her lips before deciding to leave it on and grabbed her helmet. She reached the bridge once more and, glancing around, was quick to locate Trixx.

“Trixx, can I talk to you for a moment?” Marinette called out to the orange kwami.

“Yes, Marinette?” Trixx flew over.

“I was wondering if you were okay with coming with just in case we need your Miraculous. I don’t want to force you into anything,” Marinette told him.

“Are you kidding? I’d love too,” Trixx told her enthusiastically. Marinette laughed at the energetic kwami, her spirits rising at the sight. Marinette felt this mission would go just fine.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mission started off well but was very much going downhill. But then Allura had decided to sneak aboard the ship once they found out the base itself was a bust. The ship was going straight to Central Command and Allura deduced that it would hold valuable information. Upon hearing her plan, Shiro and Marinette had refused to allow her to go in alone and thus reached a compromise; Allura with her chameleon-like ability would disguise herself as a Galra, Marinette would transform using Trixx and cloak herself into invisibility, and Shiro would hide in a shipping container. Shiro had a flashback to how he escaped the Galra prison by timing the sentries patrol and was able to use that knowledge to sneak them to the ship’s information.

“We only have a few minutes before the next patrol comes by. Watch the door,” Shiro ordered.

“Got it,” Allura stated while nodding. Marinette stayed silent as she followed Allura to the door and felt the ears on the top of her head flick as she listened for any patrols and Shiro used his Galra arm to start a download to Pidge’s computer but a small error seemed to pop on.

“Pidge, I think there’s a problem,” Shiro warned her.

“Sit tight,” Pidge said, “I’m trying to work around this.”

Marinette’s ears swiveled, turning her head sharply to the hall. “Allura, single Galra soldier incoming,” she whispered to her, Allura stiffening and glanced in the vague direction Marinette’s voice came from before the words sunk in. Allura whipped back around and broadened her stance so she blocked Shiro from view.

“What’s going on here? Who are you?” the soldier immediately began to demand the moment he saw Allura in the doorway.

“It’s about time you got here. Where is the rest of your squad?” Allura blurted out, managing to sound angry. Marinette crouched, ready to attack if something went wrong.

The guard sounded confused as he replied, “Uh, what squad?”

“The squad that is to escort me and my associate to our ship,” Allura lied through her teeth.

The guard regained his wit and started to press the issue again, “Who’s back there? What’s going on?”

“We are part of Zarkon’s high command. Our work must not be disturbed.” Allura said, pushing him away from entering the door.

“Where’s Cheif Information Officer Plytox?” The soldier pressed.

“Uh, he’s in there. Say hello, Plyrox.” Allura said in a panic.

Glancing in Shiro’s direction, Marinette could see a panicked look cross his face. Soon Shiro just made his voice deeper and yelled out, “It’s Plytox!” With that, they managed to get him to go away for the time being. Marinette allowed herself a small chuckle at Shiro’s response, hoping that it would be the worst part of this mission.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette cursed as her transformation feel after being forced to dispersed the illusion keeping her hidden when she attacked a soldier. She quickly caught Trixx and tucked her into a small part of her armor where he wouldn’t fall out. She continued to sprint with Shiro and Allura through the halls to the escape pods. “The escape pods are just this way!” Marinette could hear Shiro tell her and Allura. The computers continued to sound an alarm about the ship getting ready to take off at hyper-speed.

Allura threw off her stolen Galra helmet, telling the two, “Hurry! We can’t leave once the ship goes into hyper-speed!” They all finally darted into the escape pod room and started to close the door behind them. However, before they could fully close, three Galra sentries managed to stick their hands in and start to pull the doors open. Allura and Marinette threw themselves back at the door and pushed to keep it closed. The pod started to get ready for take-off as Shiro darted forward to try and weld the door shut.

“It’s taking off! Get in the pod, the both of you!” Allura cried out.

“We’re not leaving without you,” Shiro told her. Both Allura and Marinette glanced behind them to see the doors closing. Marinette could see acceptance cross Allura’s face and realized what she was planning on doing.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette tugged off the fox miraculous and cradled the exhausted Trixx before pushing both into Allura’s hands. “No, you aren’t going to leave her behind,” Marinette told Shiro. Then before Allura could react, Marinette pushed between her and the door, quickly kicking Allura hard enough that she was sent stumbling onto her back into the pod. Then Marinette grabbed Shiro by the collar of his armor and, using momentum, flung him into the pod alongside Allura.

The doors closed not a moment after and Marinette could hear her brother give out an anguished, “No!” He and Allura looked out the small window in horror as Marinette gave them a sad smile before the pod was ejected. Marinette was still smiling even as the Galra soldiers roughly grabbed her, happy that all the people she cared for were safe for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, another note: Adrien is coming next chapter!


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for sheepheadfred! It was great getting a comment last chapter so that with a mixture of me just being lazy and deciding that I won't want to post this tomorrow, leads to this right now! Enjoy!

_ Castle of Lions, A Few Hours After Marinette Sacrificed Herself _

Adrien fell to the metal floor, knocking the air out of his lungs. His eyes had closed upon impact with the ground, and he took a few deep breaths to fill his lungs with the air they so desperately wanted. "Kaalki, I thought you were opening a portal to Zarkon's Central Command. Why kidnap some person from… earth?" A rough voice questioned, although his voice had up in question at the end. Adrien snapped his eyes open and rolled forward, towards where his fencing rapier would have fallen. He sprung up and took a defensive stance, eyes darting around the room until he paused when his mind caught up to a few different details.

"Plagg?" Adrien breathed out, seeing the back of the black kwami hovering by a teen in red armor.

"Kid?" Plagg whipped his head around, looking in his direction. Plagg's green eyes widened, and he blasted towards Adrien, smashing against his neck.

Adrien laughed in disbelief before glancing around to see the rest of the kwami and… "It's you guys!" Adrien yelped, scrambling to his feet at seeing people who had all gone  _ missing _ with Marinette, including her older brother that had disappeared as well. Adrien could see two additional people with strange markings and ears but dismissed them for the moment. "Most of you had gone missing with Mari! Is she here?" Adrien asked frantically.

Mari's big brother, Shiro, seemed to deflate at the question, his expression conveying deep sadness, and everyone else immediately looking at him in worry. Shiro ignored their looks, taking a deep breath fortifying breath as he responded. "I'm afraid we need to ask a couple of things first. How are you aware of the kwami?"

Adrien's eyes flashed. "I was Chat Noir, Ladybug's partner. The Duke of Destruction to her Duchess of Creation. I had to protect the Miraculous and the Kwami for years. I had stepped down because I found out our enemy was my father upon defeating him. Even now, I protect something important of the Miraculous and Kwami, the only thing Ladybug had asked of me to do. I have studied every inch of the artifact. I have more of a right to ask how you came to have knowledge of the Kwami than you do me, Shiro Takashi. But I respectfully declined in favor of worrying for my friend. Now, I ask again. Is Marinette here?" Adrien growled out.

The teen in red (Keith whispered Adrien's brain) pursed his lips but answered, "She was. But she gave herself up to save Shiro and the Princess behind us. We asked if Kaalki could open a portal so we could get her in and out. He had tried, but instead, we got you."

Adrien flicked his eyes over the group before pausing as a sudden realization hit him. Ladybug had been the Guardian of the Miraculous. And the Miraculous were now here, wherever here was, where Marionette had been. Ladybug was Marinette. Adrien's eyes suddenly stung with tears at the realization that the two people he cared for most were the same and were suddenly just out of reach once more. Taking a deep breath, Adrien straightened up and fixed a hard gaze upon the group gathered before him. "Tell me everything. I can help as long as I know the situation I'm heading into. The Duke left his Duchess once, but I refuse to do so again."

Shiro exchanged a glance with the lady in the back (the Princess Adrien assumed) before sighing. "We could definitely use all the help we can get if we're going to get Marinette back."

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_ At Zarkon Central Command _

Marinette sat in her armor and cross-legged on the floor in her cell, breathing gently in and out. She prayed that the others would leave her here and run away as quickly as they could. It would be suicide to attack central command while Zarkon's forces were still so strong. Marinette's thoughts were interrupted as her cell door opened, showing a Galra covered with a robe and two sentries.

"Come with me," the robed Galra croaked. Marionette stood and walked forward, chin held high, and knowing resistance would be futile. She didn't speak a word as she was led throughout the base and to an elevator. Marinette still refused to say a word as she was brought face to face with Zarkon himself.

"The White Paladin of Voltron," Zarkon greeted her.

Marinette narrowed her eyes, "Zarkon. I had hoped this meeting would be quite different."

Zarkon gave a chilling chuckle, "You wished to meet me when your victory had been secured. A foolish wish. I shall reclaim Voltron, and it shall make me more powerful. King Alford had known that as well as I. It is why he led me to believe he destroyed it those many years ago." Here, Zarkon gave Marinette a smirk, "But then you freely turned yourself over to me. Now the other paladins will come to save you, and thus, they will deliver Voltron to me and with it, the key to unimaginable power."

"I refuse to believe they would do something so foolish," Marinette told Zarkon defiantly.

Zarkon chuckled once more, "We shall see about that. Now, you shall get the honor of being one of Haggar's test subjects." Marionette let out a snarl at that and charged him, anger blinding her thought process. However, before Marinette could get too close, Haggar snapped her arm up, and she could feel the air leave her lungs as an invisible force grabbed her neck. Taking gasping breaths as darkness started to cover her vision, Marinette could hear as Zarkon said, "Take off her hand as punishment. Then give her a prosthetic; I am sure you will find it interesting how another human will react to getting a new limb."

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_ Hours Later, Outside Zarkon Command _

Adrien followed on Hunk's heels through the Galra Base. He was still in disbelief at the information he had been given earlier but pushed it aside in favor of learning the plan of how to save Marinette. He had promptly regretted that decision when they asked him to try and help them form Voltron. He protested, but when Allura (who apparently could sense their quintessence? Was that what they called souls?) told him it would be a temporary thing if the White Lion allowed it, Adrien relented. Fast forward to now, they had formed Voltron but the whole this proved to be a trap and, as such, the lions were disbanded with the Black one taking off after ejecting Shiro (and Shiro insisting he only go after his lion to get it back while the rest searched). They had all started to attack the different ships until Marinette could be located, and Hunk had quickly triangulated her position and ripped a hole into the base itself to get inside. Adrien had been quick to follow along, leaving Pidge and Lance to guard the Yellow and White Lions, which led to now, Hunk and Adrien attacking the Galra furiously, sparing no one as they hurried to a deeper hallway. Finding the room, they opened up the door to find Marinette lying unconscious on a table strapped down. "We've found Marinette, guys. She's unconscious, but I don't see any injury on her," Hunk told the others as he and Adrien rushed forward.

Upon reaching her, Adrien pulled out a small Altean knife he had taken for his use and readied to cut through the restraints on her wrist before pausing. "I found the possible reason for her unconsciousness," Adrien said hoarsely into the comms, lightly touching the metal hand. "Let's get her out of here. I'll take Marinette in the White Lion back to the Castle. You can stay and help the others deal with the ships."

"Hunk, let Adrien take care of Marinette! Shiro needs your help in the hanger!" Allura told him, voice urgent.

"On my way," Hunk confirmed before turning back to Adrien. "You remember the way to the lions?" Adrien nodded firmly and picked Marinette up in a fireman's hold, leaving one arm free to defend the two. With that, they disappeared into different directions; as Adrien rushed back the way he came, he could only hope that Marinette would be alright.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

_ Castle of Lions, Escaping from the Galra Central Command _

Adrien stumbled through the halls, cursing that he had to leave Marinette behind but the Galra were firing at the ship and they couldn't wormhole out. He was halfway through the ship when the kwami reached him too. "Adrien, transform with me,” Wyazz demanded, holding out his Miraculous. “You can use shellter and help protect the ship.”

“Alright Wyazz, I see the wisdom in that,” Adrien agreed, placing the miraculous on his wrist. “Wyazz, shell on!” A green light engulfed Adrien and it faded to reveal a suit similar to his Aspik one. “Come on. We don’t have much time to waste,” Adrien told the Kwami, once again darting to the control room. The small crowd burst through the door just in time to see the purple energy fields surrounding the Central Command Center fade.

“What just happened?” Pidge cried.

“Who cares? We’re in. Wormhole!” Hunk shouted, looking agitated. Allura quickly opened one, needing little prompting from Hunk. But as they were almost through, Adrien saw as the blue light of the wormhole turned purple and the ship started shaking.

“Coran, what’s happening?” Shiro called out, concern lacing his voice.

Coran typed away furiously at his console while answering, “The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It’s breaking down!”

“What does that mean exactly Coran?” Adrien questioned, running to join him at the front.

“It means we have no control over where we’re headed!” Coran said, worry filling his voice. That was all that was said before something struck the ship, causing everyone to grunt before screaming as the Castle door opened up and sucked out the lions.

“Marinette! Shiro! Keith!” Adrien and Lance cried out in unison before the three disappear together out one side of the wormhole. Adrien grunted again as the castle shook once more, hearing the other three paladins fall out of the stream as well.

“They’ve vanished through the temporal rift!” Allura shouted, her voice panicked. “The lions are gone.”

“What can we do to pull us out of this?” Adrien questioned the two Alteans, forcing himself to calm. When the two gave him helpless looks, he groaned. “Okay, let’s focus on that first. Then we can find the lions. It seems like the wormhole is pulling us forward. Can we create enough force to pull out and away from where it’s pulling us?” When he saw their eyes light up, Adrien could tell that the panicking was temporarily done for.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ Unknown Planet; After being sucked out of the Castle of Lions _

Marinette felt herself slowly rise to consciousness, groaning as she started to feel her body ache. Her eyes felt heavy but she forced them open, expecting to see the inside of Haggar’s laboratory but was instead confronted with White’s cockpit. Marinette frowned, her head foggy and tried to figure out how she got here; last she remembered, Haggar and her druids had… Taking a deep breath, Marinette weakly lifted her hand and took in a sharp breath at seeing the smooth metal. She clenched it and shivered at being able to feel the metal touch itself; it was strange, being able to feel the metal but not the pressure of how hard Marinette was clenching and the fact there was no give like a normal hand. Marinette took a deep breath and lowered it, the fog in her head receding a bit more just in time to hear crackling fill the cockpit. Glancing around, Marinette spotted her helmet and grabbed it, sliding it on only to hear Keith's voice fill the comm. "Shiro, Marinette, are you there? Answer me!"

Marinette opened her mouth to answer but heard Shiro speak up first, voice gravelly, "Keith, I'm here."

"Shiro! It's Keith," said Keith, sounding out of breath.

"Keith. Keith, I'm here. I'm okay," Shiro said, voice still sounding rough.

Keith sighed in relief. "Shiro, you made it."

"Well it takes more than a glowing alien wound, a fall from the upper atmosphere, and crashing into a pan surface, at what I'm guessing is twenty-five meters per second squared, to get rid of me. How are you?" Shiro said, voice dry.

"What was that about a glowing alien wound? And how am I in White? And where are we?" Marinette croaked out, concern and confusion coating her every word.

"Marinette! You're awake. How are you?" Shirt ignored her questions, instead asking his own.

"A little foggy in the head, sore, and… I don’t know, something is different? Wrong?” Marinette shook her head but regretted it when a wave of nausea hit her. “Now answer my questions," Marinette demanded, impatient.

"The wound is nothing. We rescued you from Central Command and as for where are we? I don't know," Shiro said.

Marinette groaned, pushing herself out of her chair and lit up her HUD in her helmet to have it point her in Shiro's direction. "I'm heading over to you Shiro. I'll take a look at that wound myself and judge if it's nothing." She glimpsed a small first aid kit and grabbed it but crushed the handle as she gripped it with her new metal hand. "Crap. That's going to take some getting used too."

"What's going to take getting used to? And don't rush." Shiro groaned. Marinette ignored him, stumbling to the ladder to get out of White. As she struggled to push the top open, Shiro's voice filled the comms once more. "On second thought, you two better hurry."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette heard Shiro scream as she ran closer. "Shiro, are you okay? I swear, you better be okay by the time I get there or I'll be pissed," Marinette groaned out but grew more concerned when he didn't answer. "Keith, I'm almost to Shiro. How far until you get to us?" Marinette asked, panting as she pushed her aching body faster.

"I'm still a ways out. Be careful, you both are still injured. Don't do anything stupid," Keith warned.

"Hey, isn't that my line?" Marinette teased before growing serious. "I'm there. Hurry and get here. Even with it being me and Shiro, we probably won't be able to hold out long in our conditions." She didn't listen to see if Keith responded, dropping her kit on the edge and sliding down the cliffside towards Shiro. Mentally cursing as she saw Shiro and the creatures he told them about, she rushed faster and managed to smack one away before it could hit Shiro. However, that left them both vulnerable to another smashing into them both, sending them rolling down another cliff and causing them to scream out in pain.

Luckily, Marinette managed to keep her helmet, Shiro lost his, and heard Keith cry out, "Shiro, Marinette, what happened?"

"You may want to hurry a bit more Keith. I think me and Shiro have bit off more than we can handle here," Marinette groaned out. "Oh, and good seeing you Shiro. Hope we don't die horribly so we can talk about how this all came about."

Shiro gave a weak chuckle as they ran from the beasts. There was no other talking as they tried to put distance between them and the creatures but to no avail. Finally, they were cornered by a wall and they turned, ready to try and face them. Shiro darted forward to hit one and Marinette grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the way of another's tail. Then Marinette forced herself on the offensive, striking at another but it quickly turned to smack Marinette away from the wall and Shiro soon joined her. Groaning, they pushed themselves into a sitting position, bodies aching, and could only watch as the beast grew closer to finish them off. Shiro simply glared and Marinette had a calm acceptance of the situation; unless Keith managed to get here soon, they were done for. The beast closest to them leaped towards them but before Shiro or Marinette could even move, the Black lion blasted it away and stood protectively over them. The creatures looked angry at their prizes being taken away but slunk off, knowing a fight would only end badly for them now. Marinette sighed in relief, closing her eyes as she temporarily laid down. “Next time, let’s not crash on an abandoned hostile planet,” Marinette said, before frowning again. “How did we crash here anyways? I want the whole story too when we get somewhere safe.”

Shiro weakly laughed again, “We can do that little sister.” Marinette lifted her head to give him a tired grin before laying it back down.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You guys are idiots,” was all Marinette could say after Keith and Shiro informed her of the events that took place after she was captured. "Seriously, Zarkon said you would come for me and I said straight to his face that you wouldn't be so idiotic." Her traitorous mind tried to have her focus on the fact that Adrien was now out here in the castle but she pushed that away; she could focus on that later, she didn't want to think about the implications right now.

Keith chuckled and Shiro, though concern shined in his eyes, laughed too. He leaned his head against the rock Shiro and Marinette were propped against and said, "Only you would tell an evil overlord that." He hesitated for a moment, eyes taking in Marinette's new hand before he spoke again. "Mari… what happened while you were captured?"

At the question, Keith, who had been staring at the fire he had built, flicked his eyes over to look at her as well. Marinette clenched her metal hand before relaxing it; she knew what the question was really about. "After I was caught, the Galra threw me into a holding cell with my hands handcuffed behind me. I sat there for a while, listening to the patrol, and waited. Eventually, a woman some called a Druid that was called Haggar came to my cell with two sentries. I was brought to Zarkon then. I'm unsure what the point of the meeting was but, at the end, I grew… angry," Marinette admitted. "I tried to attack Zarkon but Haggard did something and next thing I know, I’m in the air trying to get air. Zarkon told her that I could be her next experiment," she spat out, angry once more. "I remember starting to fall unconscious when I heard him tell her exactly what he wanted. After that, bits and pieces until I woke up in White."

Shiro sighed, glancing between her and Keith, "Why do you two like fighting people who can beat you both?"

Keith grinned, "We know you, Shiro. You have stubbornness issues and we picked it up over the years. We just happen to channel ours into wanting to pulverize jerks."

Shirt quietly chuckled, before studying Keith with a serious look entering his eyes. "Thanks for saving us,” he said, still looking intently at Keith.

Keith sat down beside the two as he responded, “You both would have done the same for me. How’s your wound, Shiro? Marinette?” Keith’s eyes flickered over the two as if by just looking at them, he could see and heal their wounds.

Marinette gave him a small smile, exhaustion suddenly flooding her as she leaned against Shiro and closed her eyes. “My wound’s great. It’s getting bigger all the time,” Shiro tried to joke. Marinette huffed but stay still; she was still exhausted and her body ached before she was smacked around by those monsters, now she felt like her entire body felt like a single pulsing of pain. Keith must have given Shiro a look because he quickly backtracked, saying, “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

Marinette jolted a little as she felt fingers lightly brush across her forehead and opened her eyes a little to see Keith looking at her and Shiro, concerned. “Hang in there. When Allura and Coran find us, they’ll fix you right up,” Keith told them.

Marinette closed her eyes and sighed. Keith didn’t like the idea of the people he cared for disappearing or dying but it wasn’t looking good for her or Shiro. Shiro, even after doing what he could to bandage the wound, simply wouldn’t stop growing. And they weren’t quite sure what was wrong with Marinette as she simply grew more tired and pale. Shiro must have thought the same because he spoke up again, his voice heavy. “Keith, if I don’t make it out of here… I want you to lead Voltron.”

“Stop talking like that. You’re going to make it, both of you,” Keith said, his voice shaking a little. Marinette gave a quiet chuckled and felt Shiro do the same. For Keith’s sake, she really hoped Coran and Allura got here in time for them. As soon as the thought filled her head, a bright blue light had her opening her eyes to see a wormhole with Pidge and the castle flying through. Keith laughed, standing up as he said, “I told you guys that you’d be fine.”

Marinette laughed. “Yeah, yeah you were.”


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about being a couple days late. Things are picking up in my regular life and I was kinda swamped Monday and Tuesday. But here is the next chapter! Enjoy!

It was dark. She could make out a shape beside her but instinctively knew it was Shiro. They were standing, waiting for something to happen; motionless. Marinette felt that her face was set in a sharp grin and felt a sharp thrill of pleasure when she heard the loud footsteps of two people. Glancing over at Shiro as purple started to light up everywhere, she saw a smirk resting on his face. Together, they silently walked out from their hiding place and stepped onto a walkway. There, she saw tubes upon tubes filled with people. Marinette strained to try and see who they were but couldn’t; they were unimportant right now. Focusing on the people that the footsteps originated from, she saw Keith in his paladin armor along with someone in teal armor;  _ Adrien _ her mind whispered. Marinette felt as her face twisted into something else than that grin… something darker. A voice filled her mind, familiar yet elusive; “Kill them or stall for time in order for the base to self-destruct. These two are connected to you, more than the others and are weak because of it. Do not disappoint me.” As soon as the voice finished, thoughts of closing her metal hand, which glowed a sickly purple, around Keith or Adrien’s throat filled her head even as she began to scream mentally. “No, no, no, not them, please, not them,” Marinette begged herself but could only watch as the two noticed her and Shiro’s presence. "Well, well, well, look who came to save the day," her voice said, sounding sickeningly sweet but with a mocking undertone. "Too bad it's too late for that."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette jerked forwards, a quiet cry spilling from her lips and her eyes flying open. She looked around wildly, taking in her surroundings and relaxed as she realized that she was back in the Castle; it was just a dream. She noted that she was out of the healing-pod and that the others were nearby but talking with Shiro. Flinching when she saw Keith, Marinette stumbled quickly to the exit; she needed to calm down. They didn’t need a panicked Marinette, they needed a Marinette that was calm and collected. But in her rush to escape the room, she didn’t notice green eyes following her before the owner quietly split off from the group, unnoticed, to go after her.

Marinette ran, ran, ran as soon as she knew her legs wouldn’t give out on her. She had to outrun her thoughts, exhaust herself so she wouldn’t have to remember that dream. She reached the training room and dived through the door before finally stopping. Breathing hard, she looked around to see the rack of Altean weapons hanging to the side; she walked right up to them and plucked a sword off the rack. But before she could start any of the training programs, Marinette heard the doors whoosh open and she spun around, tensing at seeing Adrien standing there. They simply stared at each other for a while, drinking in the other’s appearance.

Finally, it was Adrien’s soft voice that filled the room, “I’m sorry M’Lady.”

Marinette closed her eyes and sighed. “I should have known you’d figure it out quickly,” was all she offered. Adrien didn’t take offense, simply joining her by the weapons rack and handing her her Bayard. Marinette silently took it and put the sword back. She then plucked a bo staff that could be broken into escrima sticks, transform into a sword, and was collapsible from the rack, offering it to him. As Adrien took it, all she said was, “Since you’re out here now, you need to have something to defend yourself with.” Adrien nodded before tilting his head to the open training area. Marinette smiled gently and turned, leading the way as Adrien fell into step beside her. Despite the fact his appearance at the Castle was accidental, Marinette couldn’t help but be soothed by the presence of her Black Cat. She could do anything so long as he was here and even if she was weak, well, it was nothing he hadn't already seen before.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette grabbed Adrien’s arm, simultaneously pulling him out of the way of one Gladiator and pulling him into destroying another. She released him and whipped her yoyo out, catching one around the throat and yanking, crushing the neck. Unhooking it, she felt as Adrien lightly tapped her left side twice; she whipped around to face him as he did the same and he grasped her by the elbows and flung her towards the last enemy. Midair, Marinette unraveled some of the yoyo’s wire before crashing into the last gladiator; wrapping her legs and wire around his neck, Marinette cut through it and flipped off it’s back as it crashed to the floor. Marinette and Adrien panted for a moment before laughing.

As Marinette got enough breath back in her lungs, she looked up at Adrien and smiled brightly. "Thank you," the words escaped her before she could even think about them. Adrien just grinned, understanding glinting in his eyes.

"Well M'lady," Adrien began, doing a small bow and holding out his hand in the image of a perfect gentleman, "Shall we go and face the others or just the Kwami now?"

Marinette flinched a little at the thought of seeing Keith, visions of her dream entering her mind, but she steeled herself and gently took his hand with her flesh one. Allowing him to place it in the crook of his elbow, she said, "Let's find the others. I'm sure the Kwami will be with them by now anyway."

"Then off we go to…" Adrien started rambunctiously before pausing and smiling sheepishly at her. "Actually, I have no idea where to go," he admitted, making Marinette giggle.

"Oh, kitty," she said fondly, patting his arm carefully with her metal hand. "Let's try the control room. We often gather there, here, or the living room."

"M'lady, always with the plan," Adrien teased as she gently pulled him out of the room.

"Yes, well one of us has to, kitty," Marinette shot back, relaxing in the familiarity of their banter. Marinette smiled as a missing piece of her clicked into place, leaving her feeling whole for the first time in a while; her kitty was here and she could trust him to watch her back unconditionally.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette sat at her small command station, fingers flying as she studied the crystal minefield. Adrien dropped across the back of her seat, muttering suggestions in her ear on what or where could something be hiding. The other paladins were doing the same as the Kwami fluttered between everyone; the little gods had grown to adore each of the paladins and with their Guardian having been taken, they were nervous about anyone being alone for too long. It was to this quiet atmosphere that the group was startled, alarms blaring as it let them know there was an intruder in the castle.

"How could someone just sneak aboard the ship?" Lance demanded.

"I knew coming here was a mistake," Allura grounded out as she located where the intruder was. Marinette sighed heavily, frustrated as she too searched for the location of the intruder. Adrien plastered himself against her back gently rubbed her arms, trying to help soothe her temper. Allura spotted him first, saying "There he is! Level five!"

Adrien stood up at the same moment as Marinette and Shiro. "Everyone, suit up," Shiro ordered and the paladins (plus Adrien because he refused to leave Marinette alone) were quick to comply. Finally, they were rushing to the level and they all split up to case the entire level. Adrien and Marinette were the furthest away from the group when Lance’s voice crackled to life through the comms.

“I got him,” he said.

“Keep eyes on him, Lance,” Shiro immediately said, continuing with, “We’re all headed toward you.” As one, Marinette and Adrien whipped around, their helmets guiding them towards their destination.

Something must have happened, however, because Coran’s voice came through the ship’s intercom, saying, “Careful, he’s faster than an angry klanmuirl!” A few seconds passed before he started up again, “But he can jump like a sprightly globinheffer!”

“Coran, you are not helping,” Lance said, sounding tense.

“Oh, somebody’s as mad as a wet chuper,” Coran noted, sounding worried but also slightly amused. “Coming your way Number Five!”

The sounds of the mystery man beating each and every one of their teammates except for Shiro filled Marinette and Adrien’s ears as they pushed themselves to go faster. However, Shiro managed to get to the group before them and the comms went radio silent. Expecting the worst, they flew around the corner to see Allura pinning the mystery man, now revealed to show a Galra, against the wall. “What’s going on here?” Marinette demanded, eyes flicking between Allura and the Galra.

Shiro didn’t spare a glance as he tried to calm down Allura. “Stop! It’s him! This is the Galra who set me free.”

The Galra, Ulaz was his name if Marinette remembered correctly, spoke, his voice gravelly, “You’ve come.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, everyone besides the Kwami’s (who all had decided to hide, just in case) were in one of the resting areas on the ship with Ulaz bound on his hands and feet. Marinette stood off to the side, unhappy with the way Allura was treating Ulaz. Her eyes were tight and lips pursed as she saw Allura degrade Ulaz simply for being a Galra right in front of him. Adrien wandered over, never far from her, and rested a hand on her shoulder, not in restraint but in understanding. Finally, Marinette simply tuned out of listening and trusted that Adrien would let her know if she should start listening. Instead, she decided to study Ulaz; he seemed unfazed by the fact that they had placed him into shackles. He kept his head down in a bored sort of manner, like their conversation was something he had heard before. In fact, as Marinette studied him closer, she could see his shoulders droop just a bit before stiffening back up. Marinette felt anger fill her soul as she stared at Ulaz and saw the man that Shiro trusted, the man that helped her brother go free.

When she felt Adrien nudge her and tuned back in as Ulaz spoke, “We are called the Blade of Marmora.”

“Uh, others? Are they here?” Hunk questioned, looking nervous.

“Hunk, can you try not to act so scared around the chained-up prisoner? It makes us seem a little lame,” Lance told Hunk, sighing.

Ulaz ignored Lance and answered Hunk’s question, “I am alone on this base.”

“And where is this base you’ve spoken of?” Marinette asked, attempting to be respectful.

“The base is hidden,” Ulaz answered, his eyes flicking over to her. “Now that I know it is Shiro who has come, you are welcome to our outpost. It lies dead ahead.”

Marinette tilted her head as she and Ulaz studied each other, their gazes tearing away as Pidge spoke up. “Behind all the xanthorium clusters?” she questioned, eyes narrowed a little in suspicion.

Ulaz shook his head, “No. right in front of it, in a hidden pocket of space-time.”

Allura pursed her lips before addressing Coran. “Coran, are you hearing this?”

“I am picking up some kind of anomaly on the screen. I suppose it could be a cloaked base,” Coran answered through the intercoms.

“Just fly straight for the center of the xanthorium cluster. You will see,” Ulaz informed the group calmly.

“You think you’re going to get me to destroy our ship just because you say so?” Allura sneered, her jaw clenching and eyes flashing in anger.

“We came out here to find some answers. Are we going to turn back now?” Shiro remarked, frowning.

Keith crossed his arms, as he said, “You know I trust you, Shiro, but this doesn’t feel right.”

“And you know I hate to agree with Keith, but it’s a big fat ditto for me,” Lance admitted, glancing sideways towards Ulaz.

“Galra could have implanted fake memories of the escape in your head,” Pidge considered.

“Oh, come on. They would be so evil, which, of course, they are. But they’d have to come up with some molecular level storage unit, which his hand does have,” Hunk mused, each of his counter-arguments being quickly torn apart by his own reasoning. “But to be linked up to memory, it would need a direct pathway to his brain, which… yeah.”

“Ulaz freed me. Without him, we wouldn’t be here,” Shiro said fiercely, looking towards the person in question.

Everyone glanced at Adrien and Marinette, waiting for their opinion. “I trust Ulaz and Shiro,” Marinette confessed, glancing towards Adrien.

Adrien pursed his lips and studied Ulaz before glancing between Marinette and Shiro. He sighed. “I’m not sure I fully trust Ulaz but Mari is a good judge of character so I’ll tentatively trust him,” he decided.

Allura sighed and opened her comm to Coran. “Fine. Slow and steady, Coran. Head for the xanthorium cluster.”

“Yes, Princess. Beginning approach,” Coran complied. The alarms began blaring as he continued, “Impact imminent in five, four, three, two…” Coran cut off before he reached one, letting out a gasp. “Well, that’s something,” Coran breathed.

“What is it?” Allura demanded.

“Putting it up on the screens,” Coran informed the group just as a screen popped up, showing something similar to the wormhole but with a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors.

“Amazing. They’re folding space,” Pidge marveled. Hunk was similarly amazed but Marinette looked at the colors and could only feel her fingers twitch, wanting to draw the beautiful scene before her. Finally, they finished traveling through the fold and the base appeared before their eyes.

“Welcome to the Blade of Marmora Communications Base Thaldycon,” Ulaz remarked, standing. “Now, if you’ll free me, I need to send a message to the leadership. They need to know I’ve made contact with Voltron.”

“Go with him and keep an eye on him. I’m staying here,” Allura ordered Shiro.

“Ooh! Can we go?” Hunk asked enthusiastically.

“I want to see how they make the space pocket,” Pidge chimed in, equally enthusiastic.

“You all go ahead. I’ll hang back and protect the princess,” Lance said, attempting to be suave. Allura rolled her eyes and sighed.

“You all go and Lance can stay. Be careful,” Allura warned the group before exiting to head towards the Bridge, Lance on her heels. Marinette sighed, moving forwards to unlock Ulaz. Hopefully, no trouble will come from this.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette recalled her earlier thoughts and mentally cursed. Of course, Zarkon would have found a way to track them and send a ro-beast, as Hunk began to call them, to their location. No mission would be complete without battling one of those. Marinette saw the beast charging up for another blast and pulled back on the controls, barely managing to help dodge the blast. Shiro cried out in a mild panic, “Move, move, move!”

“We’re moving, Shiro,” Marinette exclaimed. The xanthorium crystals started exploding around Voltron as they tried to keep ahead of the blasts. It was all for nothing though, as a crystal exploded next to them and sent Voltron flying further into the xanthorium field as it’s paladins cried out. They could hear the beast follow them in but ignored it for the moment as they tried to regain control of where they were going.

“Lance, Hunk, give me full reverse boosters,” Shiro commanded. They did so and managed to pull them to a stop before they could crash into one of the crystals. But then the ro-beast began to use its suction and Voltron was caught in its path, being pulled in despite how hard they tried to escape.

“This was not going good for them,” Marinette thought grimly as they flipped around to allow Lance and Hunk to place Voltron’s feet on either side of the ro-beast’s ‘mouth’. Keith and Pidge attempted to hit the beast only for it to grab Voltron’s hands in its own, effectively trapping them near it. “We need to break free,” Marinette gritted out as she pulled back, keeping them from being sucked in.

“That’s okay,” Keith growled. “If he won’t back off on his own, then I’ll make him!” With that, he summoned a small knife, the best he could do without Pidge’s help, and stabbed the beast in the mouth. It roared in pain but released them; taking advantage of the situation, Marinette leaned them forwards and Lance and Hunk activated the thrusters, pushing them away from the beast quickly.

“We have to keep some distance between us and that ro-beast,” Shiro yelled. His only answer was Lance and Hunk speeding up, trying to put more distance between them and it. However, they were forced to a halt as the beast fired at the crystals around them, causing them to explode. Marinette cursed as she was thrown forward and again when she felt the beast activate its tractor beam once more. Thankfully, Allura, Coran, and Adrien saved them by blasting the beast with the castle but then the ro-beast focused on them instead.

“Wait, I have an idea,” Marinette cried out quickly.

“What is it? Cause we could really use something right now,” Shiro said.

“Pidge, we’ll need the shield,” Marinette ordered.

“On it,” Pidge affirmed and assembled it.

“Now let’s block the beam with it,” Marinette said.

“Then we’ll need to go on the offensive,” Shiro continued as they began to enact their plan.

“We can use the xanthorium crystals! Send it into a big cluster and explode them,” Pidge offered. No one answered but they did as she had suggested anyways. But as they were celebrating their seeming victory, from the explosions came one of the beast’s blasts, knocking them back. It flew towards them and used it’s beam again.

It was Hunk that finally spoke what was on all of their minds. “Guys, I don’t think we’re strong enough to beat this thing.”

Before anyone could respond, Ulaz’s voice entered their comms. “Hang on!”

“Ulaz?” Both Marinette and Shiro shouted in surprise since he had disappeared at the beginning of the fight.

“I’m going to take it down from the inside,” he informed them, to Marinette and Shiro’s horror.

“Ulaz, no! Let us handle this!” Shiro yelled.

“Voltron is too valuable,” Ulaz hissed out, “The universe needs you.” He and his ship then disappeared into the beast. For a moment, there was no change but then the beast began to crumple.

Pidge explained what was happening with a simple sentence. “Ulaz opened up the space pocket from inside; it’s falling in on itself!”

The beast crumpled to nothing as Hunk breathed out, “He did it.”

“Ulaz saved us,” Keith muttered in shock.

“He’s gone,” Shiro whispered.

“Ulaz… no,” Marinette quietly choked out as self-loathing filled her; she should have figured something out, she had been Ladybug and faced worse before figuring out a solution. She should have been faster.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette sighed as she wandered through the halls of the ship. Besides Shiro and Adrien, the others were celebrating their victory even if it was tinged with sadness at the fact that they were unable to save Ulaz. She was walking passed one of the observation decks when she heard Shiro and Keith talking within. Pausing for a moment, Marinette allowed her feet to turn towards the door and enter the deck just in time to hear Shiro say, “I have so many questions.”

Marinette slipped forward to stand just behind Keith and heard the door open behind her. She ignored it in favor of focusing on two of her boys. “Do you think Zarkon is really tracking us?” Keith questioned.

“We cannot know for sure. Only Ulaz knew our whereabouts,” Allura spoke up, voice hard.

“Princess, I’m starting to think your hatred is clouding your judgment,” Marinette spoke up, voice sharp.

“I agree. You don’t really think Ulaz gave us up? Even after he sacrificed himself?” Shiro rebuked, voice just as sharp as Marinette’s.

“Maybe Zarkon found out about this place on his own,” Keith snapped, “He’s probably been searching for the Blade of Marmora.”

Allura narrowed her eyes at the three paladins. “It’s clear the loss of Ulaz has caused you great concern but regardless of how Zarkon located us, we cannot stay here any longer. It isn’t safe.”

Marinette pursed her lips but kept quiet; Allura had a point even if she had brushed off their defense of Ulaz. “We should meet up with the rest of Ulaz’s group, finish what we started,” Keith told them all.

“We can’t. Not until we know how Zarkon tracked us,” Marinette pointed out. “He gave us the location of their headquarters and we can’t risk exposing them.”

“Marinette is right,” Shiro said, voice firm. “We can’t risk losing the only allies we have in this war.” With that, they all dispersed to go to their own destinations with the hope that the answer would appear soon.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Marinette floated side by side with Adrien as the paladins and he repaired the ship with Allura and Coran’s guidance from within the Castle. “Let’s hurry up with these repairs. Zarkon could be here at any moment,” Shiro said, letting himself float gently over to the last repair spot.

The group waited as Hunk opened the panel. “Okay, panel’s off. Now what?” Hunk questioned the Alteans.

“Very simple,” Coran’s voice crackled through the comms. “Just loosen the blaxums on the somoflange.”

“Uh, what?” Adrien questioned, throwing a bewildered look towards the paladins that they returned.

“Oh, sorry Adrien. Coran meant the poklones on the agroclams,” Allura told them; the paladins glanced between each other again to confirm they were still as confused as before, although Lance had a look of confidence.

“Easy guys,” Lance laughed, pushing Hunk out of the way. “I got this!” Lance tapped a few buttons and loosened something else. For a moment, all was quiet and Marinette was almost convinced Lance had managed to finish the repairs; that moment didn’t last though, as an alarm began to blare and the panel turned a blood red. Lance panicked, “Uh-oh, that can’t be good!”

Marinette reached forwards and smacked the back of Lance’s head. “You don’t say!” she snapped.

Allura and Coran both began yelling, trying to tell them how to fix the error made. Marinette felt a headache build as she tried to decipher what they were saying but, before she could, Pidge managed to figure it out. Darting between the others, she started to type furiously at the panel, loosening and tightening things as she went. Marinette felt her eyebrows raise as the panel turned a back to the familiar soft blue that was common in the Altean Castle. Although Marinette did tune out a little as Pidge started to gush over all the advanced technology she had access to now. Normally Marinette would have happily listened but the dream that had started ever since her rescue from Zarkon and the Druids had continued to appear, night after night. She felt tears prick at her eyes as she watched Adrien roll his eyes good-naturedly as Pidge and Lance began to squabble over what defined as beautiful to them.

Marinette gave a heavy swallow and forced herself to calm down, throwing a gentle smile on her face. Adrien was another thing she felt guilt for; it was because she had allowed herself to be captured that he was even dragged out here, into a war he was not required to fight in. Marinette cast her thoughts to those back home. She had fallen out of contact with many old friends after leaving for the Garrison, only Adrien, Alya, Nino, Max, and Kim had continued with their correspondence. But she knew Adrien had kept in contact with everyone and he was also working on his business. Marinette, in a foolish moment of being selfish enough to want to save those she cared about, had ripped him once again away from his normal life. Marinette gently shook her head, turning back to what was happening in the here and now. She could brood later over her dream and mistakes, now was the time to focus.

As she turned her attention back to her team, she heard Hunk crying out with a “what the?” Glancing over in his direction, Marinette’s eyes widened as she saw asteroids, although they looked squishy, floating towards them. Summoning her shield, she let the asteroids hit it instead of her.

“Alright, we’re prepared for this,” Shiro said, summoning his shield also. “Remember your rogue projectile cluster training from the Garrison.”

“Actually, I don’t,” Adrien said, a huge grin on his face. “I never took the class.”

Marinette giggled, fondly booping Adrien’s helmet with her finger. “Silly kitty. Just follow my lead, yeah?”

Adrien nodded as Shiro shook his head at the two. “Alright, first things first. We should find some temporary-” he sputtered off as an asteroid hit the back of his head.

Turning, they saw Lance looking apologetic. “Sorry, Shiro. I was trying to hit Keith.”

Marinette could only bend over in laughter as Keith, pelted Lance with an asteroid retaliation. Keith smirked. “Like that?”

Hunk laughed, an excited grin lighting up his face. “Yes! Squishy asteroid fight!” Marinette left her grin grew wider as she caught an asteroid as it floated past and, in one quick movement, launched it at Hunk. Hunk spluttered when it hit him but was given no time to recover as everyone except Pidge began to fight in groups of two; Lance and Hunk vs Keith and Shiro vs Marinette and Adrien. Marinette felt a lightness fill her temporarily as they all started playing like the young adults they were. In those moments, there was no Galra, no worry of Zarkon tracking them, nothing except having a little fun.

“I don’t think these are asteroids,” Pidge told everyone from her out of the way spot, where she had been having fun examining the believed to be asteroids. “Coran, I’m going to need a containment unit.”

Marinette paused, looking over at Pidge. “If they aren’t asteroids, what are you thinking they are?” Then squawked as her moment of distraction let her be pelted in the face.

“I believe I can answer that,” Allura said over the comms. “They appear to be some sort of hyper-resilient spore.”

“Well, this bioluminescent pulsing doesn’t seem natural,” Pidge hummed, her curiosity burning in her eyes. “It appears programmed. I think it’s a code.”

Marinette and Adrien both landed hits on Hunk when he turned to ask Pidge, “A code? From who?”

“I don’t know,” Pidge said, “I mean, it makes no sense. You can’t program a spore.” She stared at the aforementioned spore, frustrated.

Marinette left the spore fight to lay an encouraging hand on Pidge’s shoulder as Shiro said, “Well if anyone can figure it out, it’s you Pidge.” Due to Shiro’s distraction, however, both Lance and Adrien managed to pelt Shiro on the head once more.

As Marinette laughed, Allura interjected herself into the small conversation. “Before that, everyone needs to come inside for decontamination.” Everyone took that as an end to the spore fight and they followed Allura’s instruction. Marinette found it hilarious when the decontamination chamber sprayed off the spores and, with the exception of Pidge, Adrien, and Keith, the others were all acting as though they were actually showering. Keith was simply brooding, arms crossed, while Pidge and Adrien shied away from the jets. Her laughter cut off though when bubbles filled the room and covered her and Pidge’s heads. She could feel Adrien chuckle when she bumped into him while wandering blindly through the bubbles. However, it was after the bubbles were washed away that Marinette found the one thing she hated worse than the bubbles; Marinette wrapped her arms around Shiro’s arm as powerful gusts filled the room and threatened to sweep her off her feet. Shiro's laugh was quickly stolen in the gust as he shook her off and wrapped the arm she had held captive around Marinette’s shoulders. Marinette stuck her tongue out at him but hugged onto his side as Pidge flew past them, the wind taking her flying. As soon as decontamination had finished and the chamber door opened, Marinette was stumbling out and flopped on the floor. Eying the chamber and to the laughter of her friends, Marinette promised to all who would listen, “Never again.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette exchanged a glance with Shiro when they heard the Olkarian king sobbing just through the door they were outside. After Pidge had broken what she affectionately called ‘sporus code’, the group found out that there was a distress message from the planet Olkari. Allura set course to the planet and the paladins, along with Tikki, Kaalki, Sass, Trixx, Wyazz, and Mullo, traveled to the surface in order to investigate. (The rest of the kwami along with Adrien stayed with the castle in case a rescue would be needed.) The paladins, while traveling to the coordinates given in the distress message, were pulled down in their lions by Olkarians who were hiding in the forest from the Galra. Upon the Olkarians affirming that the Paladins were there to help, the group traveled to the new home of the Olkari and told of the situation; the Olkarian King, Lubos, was being held captive and tortured in order to motivate captured Olkarians to build some sort of weaponized cube for the Galra. Which led the group to the situation they were now in; Pidge, using the Green Lion’s stealth capabilities, had dropped all the other Paladins off in the building that held Lubos. The infiltrated group snuck their way past multiple Galra soldiers and had finally arrived outside the room Lubos was in. At Shiro’s nod, Marinette slammed her elbow onto the door panel, opening the door and the group charged in, ready to fight any Galra in the room.

Instead of Galra, however, there was instead a sight that filled Marinette with a righteous rage. They had infiltrated the tower to rescue Lubos, the Olkarion king who was supposedly being tortured to motivate his people to work on building a weapon until they fell, too exhausted to continue. What greeted the team instead, was the sight of Lubos sitting in a chair, a feast in front of him as he watched what appeared to be a movie and another Olkarion standing beside him in cuffs and a Galra slave outfit. Shiro fully stepped into view as he called out, “King Lubos?”

Lubos turned, “Yes? Who are you, the jesters I requested?” At those words, Marinette’s temper flared; before anyone could stop her, she was in front of Lubos and her hands were entangled in his shirt.

“Jesters?” Marinette asked, eyes and voice cold. “You’re people are suffering and you are here in luxury while asking for jesters?” Lubos’ eyes widened and his hand slammed down on his chair's armrest. Alarms blared as a door opened, Galra soldiers rushing in. Marinette shook her head in disgust as she tossed him away from her, summoning her bayard as she backed up to her team.

Marinette ignored the following conversation as she struggled to calm her temper. Soon enough, however, she didn’t have to think as blasts and the sound of the guns firing filled the room. She rolled out of the way of a blast as the Green Lion appeared with Pidge’s voice echoing out, “Your ride is here!”

The Galra commander pointed at Pidge’s lion, snarling out, “Engage the cube! Take down the lion!” Marinette jumped out the window right as the order left his lips. Guess the stealthy, ‘let’s save the king’ mission was going to quickly turn into a light show with Voltron right in the thick of it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette felt drained after the fight, although she was happy that Pidge had gained a stronger bond with her lion. She quietly rested off to the side of the room as Hunk had fun with Coran’s new Olkarion echo cubes when alarms began to suddenly blare. Marinette straightened and her head snapped over as they suddenly gained a view of Zarkon’s ship with a fleet of fighter ships appearing beside it. Marinette rushed to her station along with the others. As she sat down, her eyes immediately started getting information from all the different stations. Marinette could see as Pidge pulled up the ship diagnostics and flicked it to the side momentarily as she pulled up the shields. Shiro turned to Allura, asking, “Allura, can you evade those fighters? We don’t want any of them following us through the wormhole.” After receiving an affirmative, he quickly turned to Lance and Keith. “Lance, Keith, bring out the defense systems and start blasting those fighters. Let’s try and knock out as many of those as we can.”

“Pidge is monitoring where the shields are getting hit to help direct the two,” Marinette quietly told Shiro, eyes and hands flying as she kept an eye on the ship diagnostics, the power left in the shields, and the few other things that seemed important to keep an eye on. Shiro nodded and promptly left the three to it, trusting Marinette to keep them in line. Marinette heard the silent command and kept her ear on the three; it was all going smoothly until Keith slammed into Lance’s weapons bot. “Both of you, knock it off. Get back into your zones. This isn’t a time for your rivalry,” Marinette told the two sharply. Luckly, it was soon after that that they were able to wormhole away, although Allura collapsed right afterwards due to exerting more energy with the teludav malfunction.

Coran crouched down besides her. “Allura, you must rest. You’ve been exerting way too much energy.” He stood up, rushin to the door. “I’ll go check on the main turbine and figure out what’s going-” He cut off mid-sentence with a cry as he suddenly started to slide across the floor and crashed into the wall.

Marinette was desperately trying to hold in her giggles at the sight while Lance glanced over at Coran. “Whoa! Are you all right?”

Coran groaned as he peeled himself off the wall, looking back at the group. “I’m fine. Look, I tell you what, I’ve probably hit a slippery spot on the ground there. Someone please wipe that up there!”

Allura turned so she was sitting towards Coran. “You’re sweating. You might have a case of the slipperies,” she mumbled towards him, looking exhausted. The Kwami floated in the room and gathered by Marinette, although Barkk and Mullo rested on Allura’s shoulders when they noticed how tired she looked.

The Kwami’s started to giggle a little when Coran immediately denied the suggestion. “What? No! No, that’s an old person virus and I’m not old! I’m young.”

Plagg grinned. “You may think you are and you are to us but I think you’re old according to all the humans and the Altean in the room.”

“What are the slipperies?” Lance questioned Allura, seeing as how Coran was adamant that he did not have the slipperies.

“It’s a common Altean virus that occurs later in life. It’s not harmful and usually only lasts a couple of days, but it causes one’s body to secrete extremely slick fluid.” Allura informed the group, looking amused.

Marinette wrinkled her nose at that as the rest hid behind her and Allura, crying out “Ew!” Marinette fondly rolled her eyes. Another day in the exciting life of being a Paladin of Voltron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the choppiness of this chapter guys! I started this chapter a while back and didn't finish it before getting consumed with things going on in my life. By the time I came back to all this, I found myself losing my spark for continuing on with this story the way I have. Now, that isn't to say that I am stopping. However, I am no longer going to write the way I did in the beginning. There will be much larger waits in between updates. Again, I am sorry for this, but as I write for my own personal enjoyment, I see no reason to continue frequently writing something that no longer gives me the enjoyment I am looking for.


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